Chicago, Ill. – The (RV) Washington University in St. Louis women's basketball team closed out the regular-season with a 71-63 loss at No. 14 Chicago. The Bears finished the regular-season with a 17-8 record and 10-4 in UAA play.
 
Senior Maya Arnott posted her 19^th double-digit game and sixth-straight, leading the Bears' efforts with 25 points and six rebounds. Sophomore Brenna Loftus netted 11 points and first-year Nailah McBeth had 10 points.
 
Chicago's Grace Hynes netted a game-high 31 points with eight rebounds while Ellie Gross had 23 points and five steals.
 
WashU opened the game on a 6-0 run following buckets form Loftus, junior Jessica Brooks and Arnott. After Chicago got on the board, the Bears scored another four-straight to take a 10-2 edge midway through the first quarter and force a Maroons' timeout.
 
With 2:24 left in the first, a pair of free throws from Gross closed the Chicago deficit to 12-10. A 3-pointer from Brooks and a layup from McBeth pushed it back to 17-10 but the Maroons closed the gap to 19-16 at the end of the first quarter.
 
A jumper from Gross to start the second quarter brought Chicago within one point, 19-18 and the Maroons tied things up at 23 with 6:39 on the clock following a 3-pointer from Sophia North.
 
The Bears continued to hold a small advantage for the next couple of minutes, but eight-straight points for Chicago put the Maroons ahead 29-28 with 4:23 remaining.
 
Up one, Chicago outscored WashU 7-2 in the final 2:31 of the half to take a 38-32 lead at halftime.
 
A jumper from Marissa Powe at 8:44 in the third bumped Chicago's lead to 43-34. The Maroons held as much as a nine-point lead until the 4:07 mark when a jumper from Gross extended into double-digits, 53-43.
 
The Bears outscored Chicago 7-2 to close out the quarter, trailing 55-50 at the buzzer.
 
A 3-pointer from senior Naomi Jackson followed by back-to-back buckets from Arnott tied the game at 57 with 8:21 on the clock. A free throw from senior Karisa Grandison gave the Bears their first lead since the second quarter.
 
The teams continued to exchange baskets and with 4:10 left, the game was tied 62-62.
 
An and-one play from Hynes put Chicago up two points and a 3-pointer from Gross extended it to 68-65. The Maroons wrapped things up with three final free throws in the last 40 seconds and the Bears did not score again.
 
The Bears shot just 3-for-15 (20%) from 3-point range and were out-rebounded 38-31.
 
WashU now awaits its fate for the NCAA Tournament, which it will find out about on Monday afternoon.