PITTSBURGH, PA – The University of Rochester women's basketball team survived a late comeback attempt and held on to defeat the Carnegie Mellon University Tartans, 57-54, on Friday evening inside the Highmark Center.
 
Rochester led for much of the contest against the Tartans, and despite an 8-0 Carnegie Mellon run late in the third, scored the final three points of the period to take a 44-43 lead into the fourth. The Tartans leveled the score for just the third time all game on Nisha Musunri's layup from Nicole Timko with 1:22 left in the third and took the lead on their ensuing possession with Timko's layup, two of a game-high 15 points for the senior.
 
But a foul on Rochester's next possession sent Melis Alparslan to the line with five seconds left in the quarter. Alparslan made the first and missed the second, but Annelise Dexter grabbed the offensive rebound and helped URochester retake the lead with a put-back before the buzzer sounded.
 
Dexter's put-back was two of the 'Jackets 15 second-chance points on the evening, coming on 16 offensive rebounds. Dexter led URochester with nine boards, four of which came on the offensive glass.
 
Leading by a point to start the fourth, the Yellowjackets stretched their lead out to six with a 5-0 run to start the quarter, holding the Tartans without a bucket for the first four minutes of the fourth. Dexter and Deniz Alparslan combined for Rochester's five points over the 4:15 stretch, while the Tartans shot 0-for-4 and turned the ball over twice.
 
Allie Heyer's three-pointer just past the six-minute mark of the fourth finally broke the seal for the Tartans, but the 'Jackets quickly answered back on the offensive end with a pair of layups from Grace Corelli on their next two possessions.
 
The Yellowjackets led by seven, 56-49, with 4:06 to play, following Tia Poulakidas' three-point play, but that'd be URochester's last field goal the rest of the way. Timko scored on Carnegie Mellon's next possession to make it a five-point game with 3:43 left, and after a trio of turnovers and misses on both ends, Timko sank a three to pull the Tartans within a pair, 56-54, with 1:14 left.
 
The two sides combined to shoot just 8-for-33, 24.2 percent, in the final period, and 6-for-13 from the free-throw line.
 
Following Timko's triple, the 'Jackets turned it over once again, but URochester grabbed the rebound after a missed three-pointer by Heyer, and headed to the line with 29 seconds remaining out of a timeout.
 
Melis Alparslan made the first but missed the second; however, Dexter grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled, putting Rochester back at the line, up by three with 27 seconds left. Dexter, though, missed them both, and Savannah Gibbs grabbed the defensive rebound, giving Carnegie Mellon the ball down 57-54 with 26 seconds to play.
 
Out of a Tartan timeout, Timko missed a pair of threes, and Melis Alparslan grabbed the rebound and again headed to the line, this time with four seconds left. And while the sophomore missed both free throws, Aleena Dinker's late three fell short, and the Yellowjackets held on for the 57-54 victory.
 
Franko Gomez got the scoring started in the opening frame, as the Yellowjackets quickly jumped out to a 7-0 advantage over the first two-and-a-half minutes, holding CMU scoreless for more than five minutes before Timko got the Tartans on the scoreboard.
 
Rochester led by as many as nine in the opening quarter, its largest lead of the night, following Hazell Nickerson's triple and two made free throws from Poulakidas, and took a 15-8 lead after one.
 
In the second, the Tartans would quickly make it a three-point game with a 9-3 run, but the 'Jackets answered back with the next six points, beginning with a jumper from Zoey Seymour just past the five-minute mark of the second, and took a 26-20 lead at the halftime break.
 
Rochester would weather another Carnegie Mellon run to start the third, as the Tartans scored 12 of the first 15 points of the period, taking a 29-27 lead on Payton Barney's jumper with 7:32 left in the third, and opening up a three-point lead on Heyer's triple with 6:25 left in the period.
 
However, the Yellowjackets would answer back with a run of their own, outscoring the Tartans, 12-3, over the next four minutes behind six different scorers, led by four from Nickerson. Poulakidas, Seymour and Macy Bacon all scored over a two-minute stretch to put Rochester back in front, while Nickerson's layup with 2:38 left in the third made it a 41-35 lead before CMU's 8-0, third-quarter run.
 
Rochester moves to 11-12 (4-8 UAA) with the win, while the Tartans fall to 13-9 (5-6 UAA) with the loss.
 
Corelli led the 'Jackets with 11 points, while Dexter fell a rebound shy of a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.
 
As a team, Rochester shot 31.3 percent (20-for-64), 3-for-15 from three and 14-for-23 from the free-throw line, while the Tartans connected on 32.8 percent of their attempts, shooting 5-for-20 from three and 9-for-12 from the line.
 
The Yellowjackets will look to make it three-in-a-row when they wrap up their weekend road trip in Cleveland, OH, with a matchup against Case Western Reserve on Sunday, Feb. 22, at 12:00 p.m.