Women’s basketball upsets No. 5 Rochester, falls to Emory on road

| Senior Sports Editor

The No. 8 Washington University women’s basketball team hit the road for the first time in two weeks and opened the weekend with a 60-55 upset win over fifth-ranked University of Rochester.

Freshman Maddy Scheppers scored 13 of her 15 points in the second half and recorded ten rebounds for her first career double-double, and freshman Melissa Gilkey added 19 points and seven rebounds as the Bears avenged last Friday’s 72-70 loss to Rochester in the WU Field House.

Gilkey scored six of Wash. U.’s first ten points on the night as the Red and Green rushed out to a 16-9 lead to open the game. The Yellow Jackets slowly chipped away at the lead over the next 11 minutes until with 1:08 to play, they took their first lead, 24-23, on a three-pointer. Rochester led 26-24 at the half.

Coming out of the half, the freshmen went to work; Gilkey and Scheppers each hit a three-pointer and a layup to give Wash. U. a 34-31 lead that ballooned to as big as 39-33 following another jumper by Scheppers.

Rochester fought back to cut the deficit to two points, but Gilkey’s second three of the night and third of her career gave the Bears some breathing room. Although Wash. U.’s struggles from the free-throw line continued (12-21 for the game), seniors Bethany Morrison and Dani Hoover connected from the line in the final minute to preserve the victory.

On Sunday afternoon, the Bears fell 82-72 to Emory University in Atlanta, Ga. Wash. U. was dominated on the boards 46-33 en route to their third conference loss.

Emory jumped out to an early 19-9 lead as the Bears struggled out of the gate. Head coach Nancy Fahey went to her bench early, and sophomore Lucy Montgomery responded with ten points in six minutes. However, Wash. U. entered halftime trailing 41-29.

Emory pushed their lead to as big as 16 with 18:41 to play, but the Bears scrapped their way back into contention. Hoover and freshman Alyssa Johanson got the Bears going, and Morrison hit a three with 6:29 to play to cut the Eagles’ lead to 69-68.

However, that was as close as they got as the teams traded baskets until Emory’s Savannah Morgan hit a three to open the lead to six with 2:54 to go. The Eagles hit four free throws down the stretch to ice the game.

The Red and Green (16-4, 6-3 UAA) look to bounce back next weekend against Case Western Reserve University on Friday and Carnegie Mellon University on Sunday.

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