Box Score Case Western Reserve University senior guard/forward Isabella Mills reached the 1,000-point milestone for her career and set a program record for three-point shots made in a single season during the Spartans' 79-69 loss to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh in the team's final game of the 2022-23 season.
With the loss, the Spartans end the year with a 15-10 overall record, including a 6-8 mark in University Athletic Association play. Carnegie Mellon improved to 12-13 overall and 3-11 in the league.
Playing the final game of her collegiate career in her hometown, Mills became the 16th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points, accomplishing the feat despite playing just three seasons with the team after losing a full year to the pandemic. Mills finished with a game-high 28 points on an eight-of-21 shooting effort, including five-of-10 from long range, and tallied her fifth double-double of the season with 11 rebounds. The five three-pointers gave her 74 for the season, passing former Spartan Hillary Hellmann's previous school single-season record of 73, set during the 2016-17 campaign.
The record-setting three and 1,000 career point came on the same play, a long-range make by Mills with 4:57 left in the game that cut the Tartans' advantage to just three points at the time. She finished the season with 449 points, the third-most ever in a campaign by a Spartan player, and ended her career with 1,002 points, the 15th-most in program history.
First-year guard/forward Emily Plachta added 11 points for the Spartans, while junior guard Sarah Mitchell finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds for her second double-double of the season, both coming against the Tartans.
The Spartans opened the game on a 5-0 run and led 7-3 with 6:23 to play after Mills' first three of the game before a 17-5 run put the Tartans ahead 20-12 with under a minute left in the first. Layups by sophomore guard Nyah Moore and Mills helped the Spartans cut the deficit to four by the end of the first quarter, but Carnegie Mellon went on to lead by as many as 13 points in the second, going ahead 39-26 with 2:40 to play. CWRU climbed back into the game with an 8-0 run to close out the half, cutting the lead to 39-34 heading into the break on a three by Mills just before the buzzer.
A three-pointer by Plachta with 8:50 to play in the third had the Spartans back within four points, 41-37, but Carnegie Mellon extended its lead back to 11 points by the 6:48 mark. However, back-to-back threes by Mills and Plachta trimmed the advantage back to five, 48-38, with under five minutes left in the third. A three by sophomore guard/forward Lucy Vanderbeck with 2:25 remaining in the third pulled CWRU back within two points, 52-50, and a traditional three-point play by Mills off a steal from Mitchell with 29 seconds left gave the Spartans their first lead of the second half. After a basket by the Tartans, Mills hit the record-tying three-point shot with five seconds left in the third, giving CWRU a 56-54 lead going into the final period.
A jumper by junior forward Kayla Characklis to start the fourth put CWRU ahead by four, but Carnegie Mellon went back ahead by the 7:13 mark. CWRU was unable to regain a lead in the game, and despite getting to within a point on a jumper by junior forward Preet Gill with 4:15 to play, could not get back out in front en route to the 10-point loss.
Saturday's game concludes the 2022-23 season for the Spartans. CWRU's 15 wins were the most since the 2018-19 campaign and matched the third-most in a single season in program history.
