Courtesy of UofRAthletics.com
CHICAGO – Host and 10th-ranked University of Chicago rebounded after last week’s upset at the hands of the No. 18 ranked University of Rochester women’s basketball team with an 87-75 win in the Windy City during University Athletic Association action on Sunday afternoon.
The game on Sunday had a similar flow as the matchup between the two teams last Sunday, with the home team posting a big margin in the fourth quarter to break open a close game entering the final ten minutes. Last week Rochester pulled away with a nine-point fourth quarter advantage to win by ten, while on Sunday, Chicago oustscored the Yellowjackets by ten in the final period, leading to the 12-point victory.
Chicago improves to 17-3 overall with the win and sits at 6-3 in the UAA. Rochester falls to 14-6 overall and dips below .500 in the conference, falling to 4-5 in UAA games.
During the pivotal fourth quarter, the host Maroons seemed to have a big answer on offense whenever the Yellowjackets got close. Chicago started out the fourth by attacking the basket and drawing fouls inside, leading to five straight to expand a two-point lead to seven.
The Yellowjackets would get the lead down to five over the next couple minutes, but each time the Maroons would quickly answer.
Chicago’s Grace Hynes hit a top of the key 3-ointer to boost the lead to ten, but Rochester got a deep 3-pointer from Alexis Sestric and a turnaround jumper from Katie Titus on back-to-back possessions to get the lead back down to five.
After UC boosted the lead back to nine, Sestric nearly single-handedly kept Rochester in the game, hitting another long range shot and a deep jumper to make the margin six.
Sestric had a big fourth quarter, with 12 points, finishing with a team-high 21 for the afternoon. She was 7-for-13 shooting and made three 3-pointers. Titus was second on UR in scoring, finishing with 14 points while also leading the Yellowjackets with seven rebounds.
Over the final few minutes, the shots wouldn’t fall for Rochester, and that coupled with some strong free throw shooting from the Maroons allowed the hosts to pull away. Over the last 75 seconds, Chicago was 8-for-8 from the charity stripe, finishing the game 17-for-20 overall, with 15 makes coming in the final ten minutes.
Joining Sestric and Titus in double-figure scoring was Callie McCulley and Maura Leverone who finished with 13 points and four rebounds each. Hailey Bruneau added seven points off the bench with Kelsey Stites finishing with four points and three assists.
Hynes finished with a game high 25 points for Chicago, adding seven rebounds. Ellie Gross provided 16 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists for the Maroons while Marissa Powe chipped in 11 points, 7 rebounds and 4 steals.
The Yellowjackets came out of the gate strong, leading 12-6 after three minutes of play. McCulley scored seven of her points in the early going. Later on in the quarter, Chicago went on a 9-0 spurt to take a four point lead. Rochester closed the quarter with five straight points to lead 20-19 after the opening ten minutes.
After the teams were tied at 30-all midway through the second quarter, Chicago’s biggest lead of the half hit six, following an 8-2 run powered by strong play inside from Hynes, Kate Gross and Lindsey Carter. At halftime, the Maroons led by four, up 39-35.
Following halftime, Leverone scored Rochester’s first seven points of the second half to pull the Yellowjackets within one at 43-42, but that was as close as the visitors would get the rest of the way.
The third quarter remained close, within six points for the entire duration, but Chicago was able to stay in front.
After Mallory Brodnik had back-to-back layups to put Chicago up six, Bruneau drained a big triple and McCulley added an and-one play to send the teams into the fourth quarter, separated by just two, Chicago sitting up 57-55.
Rochester remains on the road for its next two games, traveling to Case Western Reserve next Friday and Carnegie Mellon next Sunday.
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