The No. 9 Washington University women’s basketball traveled to play No. 2 University of Chicago in both teams’ regular season finale on Saturday.

Both teams were locked into their final spots in the University Athletic Association, Chicago in first and Wash. U in second, but the rivalry game was not without drama. With a 76-67 win, Chicago finished the regular season undefeated for the first time in school history. The Bears conclude the regular season with a 20-5 record.

“They have so many threats. They have a very good inside game with [Chicago’s Taylor Simpson and Morgan Herrick], and they can shoot the three.” senior guard Dani Hoover said. “And they’re aggressive taking the ball to hoop. You can’t just stop inside game or outside game, because they’re very well rounded and tough to play against.”

Chicago started slowly, and the Red and Green jumped out to a 10-4 lead about four minutes into the game. This would be the Bears’ largest lead. A minute and a half later the Maroons had tied it back up. Chicago took the lead, 17-16 with 10 minutes left in the half. Wash. U. regained the lead, 20-19, after a shot by freshman forward Melissa Gilkey with 8:28 remaining in the first half, but that was the last lead of the game for the Bears.

“We were running our [offense] pretty well and sticking to the scout we had on them, making sure we sat down on their drive and [made] easy baskets,” Hoover said. “In the last eight and a half minutes of the half we were missing shots and not taking the best shots and we just stopped scoring, and when you play a good team, you can’t do that.”

Chicago then went on a 10-point run, and kept extending its lead for the rest of the half. The biggest differential was with thirty seconds left, a 41-25 lead for Chicago, which held until Hoover made a three-pointer to end the first half.

The Bears came out strong in the second half, going on a 10-1 run in the first six minutes to decrease the deficit to four, 42-38. The Maroons responded with their own smaller five-point run, but with 10:49 to go, Wash. U. senior Claire Schaeperkoetter made a three-pointer to get the deficit down to four again, 53-49. That was the closest the Bears would get for the rest of the game. Chicago went 15-18 from the free throw line in the second half to hold on to the victory.

“They were hitting the outside shots, but we knew that, going in, they were going to hit some outside shots, and instead of staying calm, we continued to run out at them, which allowed them to drive and draw fouls,” Gilkey said. “We just didn’t respond the way we should have.”

Gilkey led the way for the Bears, finishing with a team high 15 points and eight rebounds. Hoover and Schaeperkoetter had 14 and 12 points respectively, and freshman Alyssa Johanson chipped in 10 points off the bench.

The NCAA Division III selection show will air on Monday at 1:30 p.m. to announce the tournament bids. Wash. U. will be looking to receive an at-large bid while Chicago received the automatic berth for the top spot in the UAA. Tournament games will begin next weekend.

“This team has talent in all areas and we’ve shown that throughout the year,” Gilkey said. “While Chicago is an undefeated team, we did give them a run for their money, and it just shows that we can play against anyone. So we’re to come out and play every single game the way we know we can. There’s nothing stopping us but ourselves.”

With additional reporting by Kurt Rohrbeck and Alex Dropkin.