Scot Women’s Basketball Splits Two Games at CMU Tournament

Michaelyn Brunner

For the third-straight season, The College of Wooster women's basketball team split two games at a season-opening tournament, this time at the Carnegie Mellon Tournament in Pittsburgh, Pa.

The Scots opened the tournament by defeating Albright College 69-57 Friday evening (Nov. 16), but fell to the host Tartans 69-60 in the title game Saturday afternoon.

In the championship game, Wooster dug itself a hole it could not get out of by shooting only 23 percent (5-of-22) from the floor in the first half. Carnegie Mellon, on the other hand, hit half of its first-half shots (16-of-32) to open up a commanding 38-20 halftime lead.

The Scots played much better in the second half, outscoring the Tartans 40-31, but it was too little, too late.

Wooster was led by junior Michaelyn Brunner (Bethel Park, Pa. / Bethel Park), who hit four three-pointers on her way to a team-high 18 points. Also reaching double figures was senior Kerri Horst (West Salem, Ohio / Northwestern), who finished with 11 points. Junior forward Nara DeJesus (Geneva, Ohio / Geneva) was held to just eight points, but did grab a game-high 16 rebounds.

Leading four Carnegie Mellon players in double figures was Erin Brady, who was 11-of-15 from the floor en route to a game-high 25 points. She also led the Tartans in rebounds with eight. Michelle Sodini and Carissa Sain each tossed in 12 points.

Statistically, Wooster outrebounded Carnegie Mellon 42-32, but committed 25 turnovers, compared to just 14 for the Tartans.

Friday night, Albright got off to a quick 19-15 lead, but the Scots came back with a 19-2 run at that juncture and went into halftime with a comfortable 34-21 advantage.

DeJesus led Wooster, posting a double-double with 18 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field and 14 rebounds. Three other Scots reached double figures in scoring — Brunner and Horst with 11 apiece and sophomore Jen Flavin (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Seton-LaSalle) with 10 points.

For the Lions, Lauren Finnigan led the way with 17 points and nine boards.

The Scots open at home on Tuesday (Nov. 20) against Lake Erie College at 7 p.m.