ROCHESTER, N.Y. – With six players hitting one or more 3-point field goals, the University of Chicago raced to its ninth straight victory, this one a 76-66 decision over the University of Rochester at the Louis Alexander Palestra on Friday night.
Chicago improved to 15-6 overall, 9-1 in the University Athletic Association. The Maroons are tied for first place with Washington University. All nine wins in the streak have come in UAA games.
Rochester slipped to 12-9 overall, 4-6 in the UAA. The Yellowjackets are tied with Brandeis for fourth place in the UAA standings.
Claire Devaney led Chicago with 19 points. She added six rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Caitlin Moore and Hannah Ballard scored 10 points apiece. Ballad had four of Chicago's nine blocked shots. Ellie Greiner had three blocks.
Ali Shaw had three 3-pointers. Griener, Elizabeth Nye, and Moore had two apiece. Morgan Donovan and Devaney had one each.
Brynn Lauer led four Rochester players with a team-high 12 points. She added four assists, four rebounds, and two blocked shots. Al Leslie had 11 points and 11 rebounds, her seventh double-double this year. Blair Landolfi had 11 points, and Kayla Kibling scored 10 points, including two 3-point goals.
A layup by Lauren Deming and two free throws by Kibling pulled Rochester into a 12-12 tie after eight minutes. Chicago scored 13 straight points in the next two and a half minutes to build a 25-12 lead. Devaney and Ballard had five points each in the surge.
Griener hit two treys less than three minutes apart to push Chicago up, 37-19. Rochester ran off seven straight – two free throws from Deming, a trey by Kibling, and a layup from Leslie – to move within 37-25 at 4:06. Chicago built the edge back to 15, 44-29, by halftime.
Rochester cut the deficit to 12 three times in the second half, the last time after three points from Lauer in a 89-second span (67-55 with 5:50 left). A jumper from Landolfi, a trey by Lauer, and one free throw from Emily Lewis put Rochester within 72-61 just under three minutes from the end.
The Yellowjackets grabbed 21 offensive rebounds and turned those into 13 second-chance points. Rochester scored 19 points off 19 Chicago turnovers. The Maroons had 15 points on 15 Yellowjacket giveaways.