Box Score The Case Western Reserve University women's basketball team played close with the 10th-ranked University of Chicago over the first 25 minutes of Sunday's University Athletic Association contest, but the Maroons were ultimately able to pull away and defeat the Spartans 63-49 on Sunday at Horsburgh Gymnasium in Cleveland.
The Spartans fell to 11-5 overall following the loss, including a 2-3 record in the UAA this season, while the Maroons remained atop the conference standings with a 4-1 league mark and a 15-1 record overall.
Junior forward Kayla Characklis scored a season-high 19 points on an eight-of-10 shooting effort for the Spartans and added a team-high nine rebounds. Junior guard Sarah Mitchell scored 12 points with six rebounds, three assists, and three steals., while junior guard Margaret Terry finished the game with 10 points. Senior guard/forward Isabella Mills added seven points, eight rebounds, a pair of assists, and three steals.
Chicago opened the game on an 8-2 run, but the Spartans responded with an 8-2 stretch of their own, tying the game at 10-10 on a three-point shot by Mills with 3:59 left in the period. However, the Spartans would be unable to take the lead, and Chicago carried a 17-14 advantage into the second period.
CWRU took its first lead of the game early in the second quarter, starting the period with a free throw by first-year guard/forward Emily Plachta and a three by Terry to go ahead 18-17 with 6:43 remaining in the half. The lead was short-lived though, as Chicago regained the lead with 5:53 left in the period and built a 29-22 advantage by halftime.
Chicago scored the first four points of the second half to go ahead by 11, 33-22, but CWRU responded with a 9-0 run to get back within two following a traditional three-point play by Characklis with 6:02 to go. That would be as close as the Spartans would get the rest of the game though, as the Maroons went on a 17-4 run over the final five minutes of the third quarter to take a 52-37 lead into the final period, and went on to lead by as many as 18 in the fourth quarter on their way to the win.
The Spartans will continue their conference schedule next weekend, wrapping up the first half of UAA play on the road at Brandeis on Friday night and at New York University on Sunday afternoon.
