ITHACA, NY – Backed by a season high 28 points from senior Lauren Deming, the University of Rochester rallied for a 77-67 road victory at Ithaca College on Tuesday evening.
The 28 points was one shy of Deming's career-high, set in February of 2016 at Carnegie Mellon. On Tuesday, she shot 11-19 from the field, including 5-7 from 3-point range and added eight rebounds and four assists.
9th-ranked Rochester moves to 9-1 with the victory and picks up its second win over a ranked opponent as the 25th-ranked Bombers fall to 7-2 on the season.
Alexandra Leslie added 19 points (8-10 FG), 9 rebounds and 4 assists while Lizzy Atkinson scored 10 points for UR. Lena Ethington also finished with seven points and eight boards.
Ithaca's leading scorer was Cassidy O'Malley who finished with a double-double consisting of 24 points and 12 rebounds. Allie Tunick was the only other Bomber in double-figures, finishing with 10 points.
Rochester trailed by as many as eight points in the game, and was down seven early in the second half before the tandem of Leslie and Deming got it going in the 3rd quarter. The duo had 17 points in the third period as the Yellowjackets outscored the Bombers 23-17, erasing a five-point halftime deficit to head to the final period up one at 58-57.
The Yellowjackets then started the fourth quarter on a 9-1 spurt to get out to a nine-point advantage, but Ithaca battled back within two with 3:40 on the clock. O'Malley scored seven points in the 9-2 Bomber run.
UR held its lead though, scoring the final eight points of the contest to snap the Bomber's four-game winning streak. Rochester has now won four in a row of its own following a loss to top-ranked Tufts on December 1st.
The win avenges Ithaca's 73-67 win in the Palestra over UR from last season. The Yellowjackets now hold a 20-12 lead in the all-time series with the Bombers.
Rochester is now off for the holidays and will return to action on January 2nd for its final non-conference game of the regular season, hosting RIT for a 5 pm game.