Junior Sidney Rogers goes for a layup in last week’s matchup with Emory. (Alex Dering | Contributing Photographer)

On the back of three straight conference wins, the No. 13 WashU women’s basketball team came up against an exact repeat of last week’s fixtures: No. 23 Emory on Friday and Rochester on Sunday. History may never repeat itself, but it was déjà vu for the Eagles and Yellowjackets as they both lost these games by almost identical scores last week. The Bears, who beat Emory 63-56 and Rochester 66-53 over the weekend, improved to 16-4 on the season and 7-2 in conference play as they enter the tail end of the season.

WashU vs. No. 23 Emory

Despite a similar score to last week’s game against Emory, the Bears enjoyed more control of this particular contest. With this win, WashU improved to an impressive 6-2 in University Athletic Association (UAA) standings, good for joint-second in the conference.

Flipping the script from last Friday, the Bears were the ones to get off to a hot start, converting eight of 15 shots from the field. Junior center Lexy Harris, who finished as the team’s leading scorer, picked up six points. They also limited Emory to a subpar 20% field goal accuracy, jumping out to a 17-10 lead. 

However, the Eagles fought and erased the deficit in the second quarter. New substitutions helped Emory score five threes as the Bears’ offensive momentum seemed to slow down just a bit. Going into halftime, the Bears were hanging on to a slim one-point margin, up 30-29.

Though the Eagles jumped ahead with an early 10-1 run, the Bears made a quick turnaround, fighting back and regaining the lead that they would never relinquish again. Harris continued to dominate in the paint, and junior guard Catherine Goodwin converted several layups. Heading into the fourth quarter, the Bears got out to as much as an 11-point lead and finished the game relatively comfortably 63-56. 

Harris got her second double-double against Emory in one week, with 22 points and 17 rebounds, and junior guard Sidney Rogers scored 17. Outscoring the Eagles 40-20 in the paint, the Bears extended their conference winning streak to four in a row heading into Sunday’s rematch against Rochester.

WashU vs. Rochester

Two days later, the Bears once again came out victorious against the Yellowjackets, winning 66-53 to take sole control of second place in the UAA after UChicago lost earlier in the day. 

The game started off with each team trading points, but the Bears quickly started building a lead. Harris continued her strong form, scoring 10 in the first quarter. The Bears also shot 3-4 from three as the team got out to a 25-14 advantage. However, Rochester fought back in the second quarter, going on a 15-5 run and cutting the lead down to 4 as the Bears struggled with scoring. 

In the third quarter, the Bears were able to right the ship. Though their shooting accuracy fell to 28% from the field, the Bears took advantage of points handed to them by Rochester, converting six points via free throws. With one quarter left until a weekend sweep, WashU led 53-44.  

The fourth quarter was relatively quiet as both teams shot under 20% from the field. As the Yellowjackets were trying to chase the game with the minutes slipping away, the Bears nailed eight out of eight free throws to ice the game and extend their winning streak to five. 

WashU took advantage of Rochester’s mistakes, grabbing 20 points from turnovers. Harris led the Bears with 18 points, followed by 14 from Rogers and 10 from senior forward Jordan Rich.

Next weekend, the Bears stay at home to face Carnegie Mellon University on Friday, Feb. 13, whom they lost to earlier in the season, and Case Western Reserve University on Sunday, Feb. 15, whom they previously beat. With only five games left in their conference season, WashU will look to keep up with No. 1 New York University to stay second in conference standings.