St. Louis, Mo. – The Washington University in St. Louis women's basketball team earned its second straight UAA victory, defeating Carnegie Mellon in convincing fashion by a score of 81-60 on Monday evening. 

The Bears move to 6-3 in UAA play and are now 12-8 overall on the season. Additionally, WU improves to 8-1 in home games this season at the Field House. 

CMU falls 3-6 in the UAA and 9-9 on the season as the Bears lead the all-time series 64-3. 

It was a wire-to-wire victory and a total team effort on Monday evening as WashU got things started with a hot-shooting first period. 

Knocking down its first four shots, including back-to-back threes from Sammi Matoush and Naomi Jackson, the Bears quickly sprinted ahead 11-0. 

Through the first eight minutes of the contest, the Bears were 12-14 shooting from the field and built a comfortable 31-16 advantage. 

CMU closed out the quarter on a 7-0 run, but WashU bounced back with another efficient quarter in the second. 

Starting the period off on a 10-0 run with a three from Molly Gannon and seven points from Samantha Weaver, the Bears built their largest lead of the night up to that point at 41-23. 

Collectively, WU shot 60 percent from the field in the first half and defensively, held the Tartans to just 5-15 shooting and 16 percent from three-point range in the second quarter, as they outscored CMU 24-11.

Holding a 55-34 lead heading into the second half, the Bears did not let up. 

Although the Bears cooled off from their strong first-half effort in the third, WU maintained a 20-point lead and held the Tartans to 26 percent shooting, as they continued to make things difficult for CMU offensively. 

WashU's largest lead of the night was 26 points, after a layup from Matoush extended the lead out to 60-34. 

In the fourth quarter, the Bears' defense had another solid performance, holding the Tartans to 4-16 shooting and 0 percent from behind the arc. 

Arnott paced the Bears' offense with six points as the lead stood at 78-54 with under five minutes remaining. 

WashU won the rebounding margin 45-32, including 14 offensive rebounds, which led to 16 second chance points throughout the victory.

The Bears connected on 12 three-point field goals and combined for 22 assists in the win. 

Maya Arnott recorded her second straight double-double, marking her seventh this season, with a team-best 18 points and 10 rebounds on 7-11 shooting. 

Molly Gannon and Naomi Jackson both knocked down four threes each and tallied 14 points apiece. 

Samantha Weaver achieved double figures scoring for the sixth straight game with 12 points and seven rebounds, while Sammi Matoush posted 11 points and five assists. 

Brenna Loftus added five points and eight rebounds and Karisa Grandison dished out seven assists.

WashU will matchup with Emory on Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. With a victory, the Bears can take sole possession of second place in the league standings.