Tied at halftime against Elmhurst University, Washington University’s women’s basketball team appeared poised to have another game decided on the final possession—potentially its third in five contests so far this season. But after unranked Elmhurst gained a five-point advantage early in the second half, the No. 8 Bears (4-1) responded with a 35-14 run to close out the game with a 70-54 victory, rendering the need for any last-second heroics moot.

After storming to a 16-6 lead, Wash. U. struggled for the remainder of the first half and went into the break knotted at 28. Surprisingly, the team’s offense proved problematic as it shot only 31 percent from the field in the half and, after shooting a scorching 43 percent on three-pointers in its first four games, failed to sink a trey for the first 35 minutes against Elmhurst.

The second half played by a different script. In front of a home crowd eager for an upset over a top-10 opponent, the Bluejays hit back-to-back threes to take a 40-35 lead, their largest of the game, but this time, it was the Bears who responded. A 10-0 run on the strength of second-chance points and suffocating defense gave the visitors a lead that they would not relinquish, and minutes later, a 9-1 run stretched the lead to double-digits.

“Their dribble drive was killing us,” sophomore guard Maddy Scheppers said, “but in the second half, we focused more on the drive and just maintaining and containing their team.”

Although Scheppers added that they did not alter their defensive strategy, the increase in focus was enough to limit significantly the number of open looks ceded to the Bluejays, who were held without a field goal for the final 8:48 of the game.

The Bears also forced 19 turnovers on the day and, although they gave up 16 of their own, outscored Elmhurst 20-5 on points off turnovers.

On the offensive end, though their shots weren’t falling, the Red and Green capitalized on their height and dominated the glass, resulting in a 24-12 advantage in offensive rebounds and numerous second-chance opportunities, on which Wash. U. outscored Elmhurst 25-9.

Rebounding has “been our focus for the past few weeks after the tough loss to DePauw,” Scheppers said. “We wanted to focus on rebounding the most, especially offensive rebounding, and just get as many shots as we can.”

The Bears were led by sophomore Melissa Gilkey’s season-high 20 points and seven rebounds, and Scheppers added 14 points, including three-pointers on consecutive possessions late in the second half that sealed the victory for Wash. U.

Sophomore center Steph Vukotic tallied a career-high 10 points in only 13 minutes of action and was key in twice grabbing an offensive board and scoring a three-point play to end a long stretch of offensive stagnation by the Red and Green.

About Vukotic’s play, Scheppers praised that she “came up big for us. We’re very excited for her, and we’re just happy that we have a really deep bench and that we can turn to any player any day, like a different player can step up and make the big plays each game.”

While the problems that plagued the Red and Green in the first half—slow defensive rotations, poor shooting and turnovers caused by unnecessarily forced passes—may become more noticeable against more talented opponents, the team’s strong showing in the latter 20 minutes offers encouragement for its upcoming slate of games.

The Bears do not face a ranked foe until next semester, but the tight game on Saturday, whose final score fails to show how close it was for much of the contest, might have provided just the wake-up call that they needed to stay “focused on rebounding and playing defense,” Scheppers said. “We know the offense will come, especially since we’ve been shooting pretty well in a lot of the games we played.”