CHICAGO, Ill. – The No. 14 Washington University in St. Louis women's basketball team kicked off 2026 in style with a 68-39 win on the road to open UAA play at No. 15 Chicago on Saturday afternoon. WashU improves to 10-2 overall and 1-0 in the UAA. 

Juniors Lexy Harris and Alyssa Hughes each scored 19 points for the Bears, with Harris nearly recording a double-double with nine rebounds.

After Harris scored the first four points for WashU, giving the Bears a 4-2 lead at 7:42 in the first quarter, the Maroons responded with an 8-2 run over the next two and a half minutes to take a 10-6 lead.

Back-to-back threes by Hughes and junior Sidney Rogers tied the score at 12-12 with 4:33 left in the period. A layup by junior Catherine Goodwin at 3:25 gave WashU the lead once again. Another layup by junior Sydney Starks with 16 seconds left gave the Bears a five-point advantage before a last-second layup saw WashU lead 19-16 after the first 10 minutes.

The second quarter was all Bears as they scored the first nine points of the period, holding Chicago without a point until 5:50 left in the half. A three-pointer by Hughes at 2:23 gave WashU a 15-point lead, and after a Maroon layup, another three from Hughes sent the Bears to the locker room with a 36-20 lead.

In the second quarter, WashU only allowed four points, the fewest in a quarter this season.

The third quarter saw even play between the two nationally-ranked conference foes, with the Bears extending their lead to as many as 20 just over two minutes into the period on a pair of made free throws by Harris, making it 40-20.

A 10-4 run by the Maroons cut the lead down to just 14 at 3:45. With a three-pointer by Chicago at 3:08, the WashU lead was down to just 12. However, the Bears closed out on a 6-1 run to end the third quarter, maintaining their lead at 51-34.

The fourth quarter was once again all WashU. A layup by junior Amelia at 9:28 was answered by a three-pointer at 8:48 by the Maroons, holding WashU's lead at 16 points, 53-37. The WashU defense held Chicago scoreless for over six minutes.

The Bears scored their final points of the contest on a layup from Harris at 2:46, while Chicago ended their drought with a pair of free throws at 2:31, bringing their deficit to within 30. Neither team scored in the final two and a half minutes, and the Bears kicked off the conference portion of their schedule with a 68-39 win.

As a team, WashU shot 26-59 (44.1%) while holding the Maroons to just 15-58 (25.9%). The Bears also led in points off turnovers (14-3), second chance points (11-7), points in the paint (34-22), fast break points (9-3), and three-pointers made (8-4).

WashU is back on the road next weekend with a pair of games, starting with a 7:30 p.m. ET contest at Carnegie Mellon on Friday evening. On Sunday, the Bears travel to Case Western Reserve for an 11 a.m. ET tip-off.

 
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