After trailing by as many as 15 and nine at the end of the third, University of Rochester women's basketball pulled within five but couldn't quite complete the comeback, falling to the 15th-ranked WashU Bears, 66-53, on Sunday afternoon inside the Louis Alexander Palestra.
 
Rochester trailed by just four at the halftime break, and quickly pulled within a point to start the third. Bridget Miller went 1-for-2 at the line on Rochester's opening possession, while after a miss on the other end, Grace Corelli's offensive rebound and put-back pulled the 'Jackets within one, 38-37, less than a minute into the third.
 
The 'Jackets then briefly took the lead, with Claire Groenewoud's triple off Melis Alparslan's assist giving Rochester a 42-41 advantage with 6:44 left in the third. However, the Bears would answer back with a 12-2 run over the final 5:42 of the quarter, holding Rochester to just 1-for-9 from the field and 0-for-5 from beyond the arc the rest of the period.
 
WashU retook the lead on Ava Blagojevich's pull-up jumper on its next possession, and quickly stretched it out to five with layups on two of its next three possessions.
 
Sidney Rogers then capped off the 10-0 run with a three-pointer with 3:19 remaining in the third, before Hazell Nickerson finally broke the scoreless stretch, and Sydney Starks sent the Bears into the fourth up 53-44 with a pair of free throws.
 
Up by nine at the end of the third, Lexy Harris again gave the Bears a double-digit advantage with a layup to start the fourth. And despite turnovers on back-to-back possessions to start the final frame, Corelli got the Yellowjackets on the board with 8:33 left to play, kick-starting a 6-0 spurt to pull Rochester within five.
 
After a WashU miss, Tia Poulakidas drew a foul and made a pair, and then the two teams would go silent for nearly six minutes, combining to go 0-for-13 from the 7:52 mark of the fourth till there were just under three minutes to play.
 
Poulakidas' free throws made it a seven-point game, 55-48, with 7:52 left, while Annelise Dexter broke the scoreless stretch with a layup from Groenewoud to pull Rochester within five, 55-50, with 2:45 to play.
 
On WashU's ensuing possession, the 'Jackets forced a miss, but the Bears corralled the rebound and found Jordan Rich for three, extending their lead back to eight with just over two minutes left.
 
Then, after back-to-back missed three-pointers, Bridget Miller went to the line and made 1-of-2, keeping the 'Jackets within striking distance with 1:27 left. However, forced to foul, the Bears made their free throws, while the Yellowjackets wouldn't made a field goal the rest of the way.
 
Stark's two free throws made it a nine-point game, while two from Nickerson pulled URochester back within seven, 60-53. However, after another two made free throws by the Bears, Rochester couldn't find a bucket, and two more free throws from Starks helped seal the 66-53 victory.
 
WashU shot 76.9 percent in the opening quarter, ending the first on a 14-5 run to take a 25-14 lead into the second.
 
The 'Jackets, though, after shooting just 31.6 percent in the opening period, found their touch in the second quarter and ended the period on a 15-5 run to cut the Bears' lead down to just four, 38-34, at the halftime break.
 
Trailing 31-16, Groenewoud nailed a triple, and after Amelia Rosin answered with a layup, back-to-back buckets from Miller got Rochester going. Miller scored seven of Rochester's 15 points over the run, answering Alyssa Hughes' three-pointer with a three-point play just past the two-and-a-half-minute mark, while Poulakidas' turn-around jumper cut WashU's lead to six with 1:51 left in the second.
 
Deniz Alparslan's driving layup, assisted by her sister, Melis, pulled URochester within a pair late in the second, but Rogers beat the buzzer with a step-back jumper to send WashU into the locker room up four, 38-34.
 
With the win, No. 15 WashU moves to 16-4 (7-2 UAA) on the year, while the Yellowjackets drop their fourth straight and fall to 9-11 (2-7 UAA).
 
Corelli led Rochester with 11 points, falling just shy of a double-double with a team-high nine rebounds. For WashU, Harris had a game-high 18 points, while Rogers and Rich also scored in double figures with 14 and 10 points apiece.
 
As a team, Rochester shot 30.5 percent (18-for-59), while the Bears connected on 42.3 percent (22-for-52) of their attempts.
 
Next up for the Yellowjackets is a matchup against No. 1 NYU, riding a NCAA Division III record 82-game winning streak on Friday, Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m. inside the Louis Alexander Palestra.