Jan 05, 2016
It isn't often that you see a team go from 11 down to 11 up in a stretch of 13 minutes, but that's what happened on Tuesday night. The University of Rochester capitalized on a Hamilton College cold streak in the latter stages of the second half and rallied for a 59-49 victory at the Louis Alexander Palestra.
Rochester improved to 10-1. The Yellowjackets are ranked 12th in the D3hoops.com poll this week and #15 by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association.
Hamilton (4-7) dressed only nine players and was missing its top scorer, senior Sam Graber, who averages almost 19 points a game to go along with seven rebounds per contest.
The Continentals rode the scoring of junior Kate Bushell (11 points, seven rebounds), freshmen Kendall Rallins (14 points, five assists, seven rebounds, three steals) and Halie Serben (15 points, four rebounds, three steals).
Al Leslie led Rochester with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Lauren Deming chipped in 12 points, five boards, and four steals. No other Rochester player scored more than six.
Hamilton led most of the way – Rochester took a brief one point lead late in the second quarter before Bushell hit an eight-footer. The lead grew to 11 points, 39-28, midway through the third quarter on a layup and free throw from Rallins.
Over the last six minutes of the quarter, Rochester outscored Hamilton 16-5, with Leslie scoring eight of the points, Deming had five. She made two free throws to get Rochester within 44-41, then sank a three-pointer from the top of the key just before the buzzer to tie the score at 44-44 heading into the final quarter.
With the score tied at 46-46, Deming hit another three-pointer to give Rochester a 49-46 lead. Leslie and Rallins swapped baskets before Rochester ran off an 8-0 burst to pull away for good. Kayla Kibling sank a three-pointer, Tylar Guerrieri hit a 12 footer off the right baseline, and Sarah Kaminsky hit a three-point shot from right wing. That put the lead at 11 with 3:19 left.