CHICAGO – Rochester played one of its best games of the season on Friday night as the Yellowjackets claimed a 74-68 women's basketball victory over the University of Chicago at the Ratner Athletic Center.
 
The victory boosts Rochester's record to 14-7 overall, 6-4 in the UAA. Chicago, which had a four-game winning streak snapped, is 12-8 overall, 5-5 in the UAA. In that four-game run of success, the Maroons held opponents to an average of 52 points per game. Rochester surpassed that total by late in the third quarter. The Yellowjackets did it by taking good shots and making sound decisions with the ball. Rochester hit 8 of 12 from the floor in the third quarter, moving to a 57-52 lead after battling to a 36-all tie at halftime. In the fourth quarter, Rochester hit 6 of 12 from the floor. For the game, the Yellowjackets hit 28 of 48 field goal tries (.483), six of 15 outside the arc (.400), and 12 of 20 from the foul line (.600).
 
Chicago hit 22 of 57 from the field (.386), six of 17 from distance (.353), and 18 of 26 at the stripe (.692). UR led by five after one quarter (18-13) but a strong shooting performance by Chicago (8-13, .615) had the teams tied at halftime, 36-36. Peyton Van Soest hit a three-pointer from the top of the key in the final seconds of the second quarter for a 36-33 Maroon lead. Rochester's Julianna Okoniewski scored on a conventional three-point play with two-tenths of a second on the clock. The teams left the court tied at 36-36.
 
Klaire Steffens of Chicago led all scorers with a career best 35 points. She hit five of nine three-point shots and was a one-person offense for much of the half (23 points). In the second half, she got help from Grace Hynes (18 pts.), She scored Chicago's first 13 points of the fourth quarter. Steffens did not score in the fourth quarter until the clock was under a minute to play. With Rochester ahead by six (71-65), she swished a three-pointer from the top of the key to get UC within 71-68 with 35 seconds to go. Rochester made three free throws in the next seven seconds to stay comfortably ahead. Hynes finished with 23 points. She hit nine of 11 from the foul line, added four rebounds, and five assists. She had three conventional three-point plays.
 
Rochester's offense was balanced. Hannah Lindemuth led the Yellowjacket scorers with 21 points, including five of eight three-pointers. Okoniewksi scored 17 points, grabbed six rebounds, and blocked three shots. Maura Leverone finished with 12 points, four steals, and a career-high 11 assists. Callie McCulley had 10 points and nine rebounds. Alexis Sestric scored six points. Jayda Starckey had six points and four rebounds in 10 minutes. .Abby Gress grabbed six rebounds in 16 minutes and helped Rochester to a 39-31 edge on the glass.
 
The game had an unusual pace. Chicago started very slowly – a mixture of missed shots and turnovers gave Rochester the opportunity to score the first nine points and extend that lead to 16-4. The Yellowjacket shooting turned cold. Chicago ran off nine straight points and halfway into the second quarter had a 21-18 lead with more than five minutes left. Steffens had 14 of the 21 points. A trey by McCulley and a putback from Starckey kept Rochester level at 23-23 and the game stayed tight. UC opened a 33-28 lead on five Steffen points. Rochester answered with a three-pointer from Lindemuth out of the right corner and a putback from Gress. It was 36-36 at the break.
 
Rochester's lead went to five points a couple of times in the third quarter – 46-41 when McCulley's layup finished a fast break, then 57-52 at the end of the quarter on one free throw by McCulley and a Lindemuth trey from the left of the key. UR pushed the lead to eight points early in the fourth (63-55) before the Maroons fought back. Hynes scored all eight points – a conventional three-point play, a spinning layup, and 3-4 at the foul line.
 
Sestric scored on a break, Okoniewski spun for a layup, and finished a fast break with another layup (69-63 with 2:42 to go).
 
On Sunday, Rochester plays Washington University-St. Louis. With four games left in the schedule, NYU has a two-game lead over Emory. NYU is 9-1 after beating Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, 75-63. Emory defeated Washington, 81-66, in St. Louis. The Eagles are 7-3, the Bears are 6-4 (tied with Rochester). Chicago (5-5) is fifth, Carnegie Mellon (4-6) sixth, Case Reserve (2-8) seventh, and Brandeis (1-9) eighth. Emory is at Chicago, NYU at Carnegie Mellon, and Brandeis at Case Reserve,