ST. LOUIS – After three quarters of wild swings in the point differential, Rochester and Washington battled down to the final play of the game before the ninth-ranked Bears held off the Yellowjackets, 80-77, at the WU Field House on Sunday afternoon.
The Washington victory keeps the Bears in first place in the University Athletic Association standings at 9-2. Overall, WU is 20-2. Rochester sits alone in third place at 6-5 in the UAA, 15-7 overall. Chicago, which entered Sunday at 8-2 in the UAA prior to hosting Emory, is the other team in the UAA chase.
Rochester returns home to host Carnegie Mellon on Friday at 6 pm and Case Western Reserve on Sunday afternoon. That will be Senior Day on the River Campus.
Lauren Deming led Rochester with 23 points, hitting seven of 10 from the floor, eight of nine from the foul line. She hit one three-pointer, but it came at a vital time in the final minute. She added seven rebounds.
Alexandra Leslie had 17 points and eight rebounds for Rochester. Lizzy Atkinson hit four treys to finish with 12 points and Brenna James had 10 points.
Becca Clark-Callender led Washington with 18 points, including 13 of 13 from the foul line. Madeline Homoly scored 17 points, and Lily Sarros finished with 15.
The Yellowjackets shot well outside the arc, hitting 11 of 22 tries. Rochester connected on .464 of its overall field goal attempts and was 14 of 21 at the foul line (.667). Washington was 28 of 65 from the floor (.431), three of 12 beyond the arc (.250) and hot at the foul line (21-25, .840).
Rochester led by three after one quarter, trailed by that amount at halftime (38-35), and after falling behind by a dozen in the third, battled back to within 58-56 after three.
Washington opened the last period with a 9-2 burst to build a nine-point edge, 67-58. The teams went back and forth at each other for the next five minutes with the lead still eight, 73-65, after a Homoly layup.
Deming converted a three-point play – hitting a runner and drawing the foul on Clark-Callender before making the free throw. That started a 9-3 run. The Washington points were a conventional three-point play from Jenn Dynis. Right after her play, James made one free throw. She missed the second, but Leslie grabbed the rebound and hit a six-foot putback (76-71). With 55 seconds left, Deming buried a trey from about three feet outside the arc to pull Rochester within 76-74.
Clark-Callender made two free throws with 25 seconds left. Deming took the inbounds pass, raced upcourt, twisted in for a layup and made the free throw to cut the deficit to one, 78-77, with 20 seconds to go.
The Bears moved the ball over midcourt with a timeout. On the inbounds play, Clark-Callender was held and made two free throws to stretch the lead to 80-77. She stole the ball as Deming tried to maneuver.
Sarros was fouled with seven seconds left. She missed both ends. Rochester pushed the ball up the floor where Lauren Foley's three-point attempt bounced off the iron at the buzzer.