Though they trailed by as many as 10 in the second quarter and by three at the end of the first, No. 16 University of Rochester women's basketball rallied, outscoring the 7th-ranked University of Chicago Maroons, 33-24, in the fourth quarter to upset the Maroons, 85-75, on Sunday afternoon inside the Louis Alexander Palestra.
Mallory Brodnik got the scoring started for UChicago, as the Maroons jumped out to an early 4-0 lead. Sophia North followed Brodnik's layup, with one of her own, before Katie Titus got UR on the scoreboard, cutting the Maroons' lead in half.
After a defensive stop, Kelsey Stites knocked down a three to give the 'Jackets their first lead of the night, 5-4 with 6:56 to play in the first, before Callie McCulley sank one of her own on UR's next possession, giving the Yellowjackets a two-point, 8-6, lead.
Both teams then went cold for nearly three minutes, before Bella Alfaro broke the scoring drought, swishing a corner three as the shot clock expired.
Abby Gress responded on the other end with a triple of her own, but the Maroons would end the first quarter on a 9-2 run, holding Rochester to just one bucket, Alexis Sestric's layup with 37 seconds left, to take an 18-13 lead into the second quarter.
The Maroons then kept things rolling to start the second, with Brodnik again opening the period with a score.
McCulley's jumper just over a minute later pulled the Yellowjackets within five, but back-to-back scores by Brodnik and Ashley Gao brought Chicago's lead out to nine, 24-15, with 8:08 remaining in the first half.
McCulley would again pull UR within five, this time with a jumper off Titus' assist and a layup from Maura Leverone, but five-straight from Grace Hynes brought the Maroons' lead out to its largest of the game, 29-19, with 6:23 till halftime.
Hynes and Alfaro would answer each of UR's next two buckets, Haley Dumiak's layup and another Gress three, before a 9-0 Rochester run, kept things close heading into the locker room.
Down 34-24 following an Alfaro three, Titus answered on the other end with a triple of her own, before Gress went to the line for two to pull the 'Jackets within five, 34-29 with 2:57 left in the half.
And after Gao missed a jumper on the ensuing possession, Titus made it a three-point game, knocking down a jumper, and then a one-point game with her layup with 1:54 until the halftime break.
Up 34-33, Gao made it a three-point game with her jumper with 44 seconds to play, and the 'Jackets and Maroons would head into the locker room with UChicago holding a slim, three-point lead.
Sestric quickly got things going for UR in the second half, pulling the 'Jackets within one with her driving layup 52 seconds into the third. Marissa Powe answered with a layup of her own on the other end, but Sestric and Titus then gave UR their first lead since early on in the first quarter.
Sestric scored another layup, and Titus got the roll on her turn-around jumper, giving the Yellowjackets a 39-38 lead.
Brodnik briefly gave the Maroons the lead back with a pair of free throws, but Titus took it right back with a layup, kick-starting a 7-0 UR run to take a 46-40 lead on McCulley's layup with 4:48 left in the third.
UR and UChicago traded buckets down the stretch of third, and North would pull the Maroons within two with a pair of free throws.
Stites hit a jumper to put the 'Jackets back up by three, but Powe drew a foul on her drive with just a second remaining in the period and hit both free throws to make it a 52-51 Rochester lead heading to the fourth.
And while Hynes quickly gave Chicago the lead to start the fourth, scoring the Maroons' first four points of the period, Stites cashed a triple to put UR back up two, 55-53, and then knocked down a layup to make it 57-55 with 9:02 to play.
Titus then scored five of her own, making it a 7-0 run over 1:22, and putting the Yellowjackets up seven with under eight remaining.
Powe slowed UR's roll with a pair of free throws, but Titus scored her 20th point of the night to again make it a seven-point game, before Gress nailed her third of four triples, extending the lead out to 10 with 6:27 left.
The Maroons would again pull within five on North's three-pointer with 5:20 to play, but another response from the 'Jackets, an 8-2 run over the next 1:29, gave UR its largest lead of the day, 75-64.
McCulley sank a jumper to put UR back up seven before Sestric hit a three to bring the lead out to 10. Alfaro found the bottom on the next possession, but McCulley found Gress for a wide-open three on the fastbreak, and the junior hit her fourth of the day, extending Rochester's lead out to 11 with 3:51 left.
The Maroons would get as close as seven, 79-72, the rest of the way, but Leverone, McCulley and Stites hit their free throws down the stretch, and UR's defense held Chicago to just one, made field goal over the final 1:31 to seal the 85-75 victory.
In total, the 'Jackets outscored Chicago, 52-39 in the second half, and 33-24 in the fourth. UR shot 71.4 percent (20-for-28) in the second half, including 6-for-8 from three, while holding the Maroons to just 11 made field goals and 30.5 percent from the field.
#16 Rochester moves to 14-4 (4-3 UAA) with the win, while the Maroons fall to 17-2 (6-2 UAA) with the loss.
Titus' led all scorers with 20 points, adding eight rebounds, four assists and two blocks, as five 'Jackets scored in double figures. McCulley finished with 17 points and 9 rebounds, Gress scored 14, shooting 4-for-4 from three and Sestric and Stites each tallied 11.
Leverone totaled a game-high six assists, as the 'Jackets tallied 26 assists, tied for the sixth-most in program history and the most since Dec. 4, 2021.
The game featured three ties and 11 lead changes, the last of which came with 7:35 to play in the third, as Rochester, down 31-21 midway through the second, outscored UChicago, 64-44 over the final 24:58 of the game.
The Yellowjackets next make the return trip to St. Louis and Chicago, opening the weekend at WashU on Friday, Feb. 3 at 5:30 p.m. CT, before a rematch against the Maroons on Sunday, Feb. 5 at 2 p.m. CT.