Box Score Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Washington University in St. Louis women's basketball team earned a 13-point road win at Carnegie Mellon on Friday evening, defeating the Tartans 77-64.
The Bears win their 10th game of the year and second consecutive UAA contest, improving to 4-2 in the standings and taking sole possession of third place as of Friday evening. Carnegie Mellon drops to 9-6 (3-3, UAA).
It was a near wire-to-wire victory for the Bears, who now lead the head-to-head series over the Tartans 63-3.
WashU's starting lineup combined for 71 points on the night, as the Bears shot 46 percent from the field.
Junior Maya Arnott scored 13 points in the second half and posted her fifth double-double of the season with 19 points, 11 rebounds, and four blocks on 9-14 shooting.
Senior Samantha Weaver collected 17 points, seven assists, and five rebounds, while Sammi Matoush sank four threes and finished with 16 points.
Junior Naomi Jackson had a career night from behind the arc, finishing with 15 points on 5-9 shooting from deep.
WashU set the tone right out of the gate and held CMU scoreless in the first four minutes of action, while the Bears attacked inside early and often and built a 10-4 edge as Weaver and Arnott combined for all 10 points.
WU posted 38 points inside the paint in the victory.
The Bears shot 42 percent from the field in the quarter and led by three at 21-18 after Jackson drilled back-to-back threes.
A 7-0 run from the Tartans gave CMU its first lead of the game at 23-21 early in the 2nd period after WashU missed its first six shot attempts, but the Bears quickly burst ahead with an 8-0 run off a Weaver layup and back-to-back threes from Matoush and Jackson.
WU's largest advantage of the half was at 37-25 after Matoush converted on her third triple of the evening and the Bears' offense continued to flow inside the paint and from three-point territory.
Matoush shot 60 percent (6-10) for the game and notched her eighth game in double figures scoring.
For the quarter, WashU outscored CMU 18-13 and CMU was limited to just 25 percent shooting. In addition, the Bears connected on seven threes in the first 20 minutes of play.
Jackson had a season-high first half, knocking down four threes as she led all scorers with 12 points.
In the second half, the Bears got off to another hot start, shooting 4-5 from the field, building their biggest lead of the night at 17 points (48-31).
Maya Arnott played a big part of the Bears' third-quarter dominance on both ends of the floor, shooting 4-5 for nine points and two blocks. The Bears' defense held the Tartans to 3-11 shooting in the final three minutes of the quarter, with WashU maintaining a comfortable 64-48 lead.
WashU shot over 50 percent in both the second and third frames, and its defense held the Tartans to 35 percent shooting for the night.
The Bears led by double digits for the entirety of the second half and while CMU outscored WU 16-13 in the fourth, the lead never dropped from 11 points.
WashU will go for its third consecutive win on Sunday at Case Western at 2:00 p.m. EST.
