Pittsburgh, Pa. – The (RV) Washington University in St. Louis women's basketball team edged Carnegie Mellon, 77-74, on Sunday afternoon on the road. The Bears are 11-5 overall with a 4-1 mark in conference play.
 
Junior Jessica Brooks led the Bears with 21 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals while senior Maya Arnott netted 20 points, pulled down seven rebounds and dished out four assists. Senior Sammi Matoush scored 12 points with five rebounds while sophomore Sabrina DelBello tied her career high of 11 points.
 
The Tartans came out of the game on a 5-0 run, prompting a WashU timeout. Following the quick break, the Bears went on a 7-0 run led by five points from Brooks.
 
Following a bucket from CMU to tie things up at 7-7, WashU went on a 7-0 run to take a 14-7 lead. DelBello started the run with a 3-pointer and Arnott followed with back-to-back layups.
 
A 3-pointer from CMU's Catherine Or cut the Bears lead to four points, 19-15, with 8:24 left in the second quarter, but a 6-0 run for WashU led by four points from Brooks gave the Bears a double-digit, 25-15 lead with 7:14 on the clock.
 
A jumper from Arnott and 3-pointers from DelBello and Matoush gave the Bears their biggest lead up to that point – 15 points – to go up 40-25 with 1:23 remaining in the first half.
 
A layup from the Tartans sent WashU into halftime with a 40-27 edge.
 
WashU maintained a double-figure point in the opening minutes of the third quarter. A jumper and a 3-pointer from CMU's Piper Ligotti midway through the quarter cut the Bears advantage down to six, 46-40.
 
After exchanging baskets, the Tartans closed out the third quarter with four-straight points to close the Bears' lead to 53-50 heading into the final quarter.
 
A 3-pointer from Or to open the fourth quarter tied things up at 53-53 and the game would end up being tied twice more (58, 60).
 
WashU maintained a slight lead until a jumper from Or put the Tartans up 67-66 with 5:12 on the clock.
 
A jumper from sophomore Brenna Loftus quickly gave the Bears back the lead and a 3-pointer from Brooks and a layup from Arnott extended WashU's lead to 73-67 with just under two minutes remaining.
 
Four-straight points cut the gap down to two points with 22 seconds remaining and it was a one-point game, 75-74, with 10 seconds left following an Or 3-pointer. Matoush closed out the game with a pair of free throws to give the Bears the win.
 
WashU is back in action on Friday with a 5:30 p.m. road game at Rochester.