Women’s Basketball Struggles in Second Quarter to Lose Game
On Tuesday, Nov. 22, the Waynesburg University’s women’s basketball team hosted Carnegie Mellon University in a nonconference matchup. Carnegie Mellon came into the game ranked 18th in the country. The Tartans showed why, as they dropped the Jackets by a 77-64 final score.
Both teams played even through the first 10 minutes of the game, as after one quarter it was a 15-15 tie. Waynesburg took an 18-17 lead on sophomore guard Anna Bartman’s three pointer early in the second quarter.
CMU then dominated the rest of the second quarter. An 11-0 run put the Tartans ahead 39-29 at the half. CMU outscored the Jackets 24-14 in the quarter. Head coach Sam Jones was happy with his team’s strong play till that point.
“The last three minutes of the half they go on an 11-0 run,” said Jones. “During which we missed some shots, had a couple lapses on defense and gave them better shots.”
CMU extended the lead to 15 by winning the third quarter out scoring Waynesburg 18-17. CMU then took the final quarter by a 20-18 margin to come away with the 13-point victory.
Waynesburg received some balanced scoring in the loss. Junior forward Addy Knetzer had a double-double to pace the offense. Knetzer posted 21 points on nine of 16 shooting and brought down 10 rebounds. Gehlmann was the only other Waynesburg player to score in double figures posting 19 points. Sophomore guard Monica Starre scored eight points while senior forward Haley Delaney added seven points. Waynesburg also had the edge in rebounding 41-36 over CMU.
CMU was led in scoring by Lisa Murphy. Murphy scored 26 points and added eight rebounds for the visiting Tartans.
Waynesburg fell to 2-2 on the year with the loss. CMU improved to 4-0 with the victory.
Next up for Waynesburg, is a matchup at Bethany to start Presidents’ Athletic Conference play on Wednesday, Nov. 30. Waynesburg was picked to finish in fourth place in the conference’s preseason poll. The Yellow Jackets went 2-0 against the Bison last season, including a 70-67 victory on their last meeting on Feb. 13. Though the Jackets were victorious, Jones is expecting a close game.
“We had to battle back from 15-0 to win and the last three minutes were back and forth in that game,” said Jones. “Expect this one to be a close hard fought battle.”
Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.