The Case Western Reserve University women's basketball team led from the opening basket on Sunday afternoon, claiming an 83-68 win over the University of Rochester at Horsburgh Gymnasium in Cleveland.

It marked the third conference win of the season for the Spartans who improved to 3-10 in University Athletic Association games and to 10-14 overall. Rochester fell to 10-14 overall as well with a 5-8 league mark.

Senior forward Kayla Characklis and senior guard Sarah Mitchell combined for 53 points in the game, including a career-high 29-point effort from Characklis, surpassing her previous career-best mark of 22 points, recorded twice during her career. The 29 points matched the 13th-most in a game in program history and were the most by a Spartan since Isabella Mills scored 30 against Brandeis on January 27, 2023. Characklis made a career-high 14 shots on 19 attempts in the game while adding seven rebounds, an assist, and two steals.

Mitchell matched her career-high, scoring 24 points for the second-straight game, connecting on six-of-16 shots from the floor, including two-of-five from behind the three-point line, and making 10-of-11 shots from the free throw line. She added five rebounds and a team-high four assists in the win.

Defensively, the Spartans forced Rochester to commit 17 turnovers in the game and finished the contest with a 12-0 edge in points off turnovers. CWRU also held a 38-24 edge in points in the paint.

Graduate student forward Kate Montgomery gave the Spartans the lead with a three on the first possession of the game and Characklis got the Spartans off to a strong start, scoring 11 points in the first five minutes and 21 seconds of the game to help CWRU jump out to an early 19-6 lead with 4:39 on the clock in the first. CWRU went on to put together its highest-scoring quarter of the season, putting 30 points up on the scoreboard and taking a 30-14 lead into the second quarter.

CWRU led by as many as 19 points in the second quarter, taking a 35-16 lead on a jumper by Characklis with seven minutes left in the half. Rochester climbed back into the game, cutting the advantage to seven points with 2:06 left, but an old-fashioned three-point play from Mitchell gave the Spartans a 10-point lead heading into halftime, 44-34.

Rochester was able to cut the Spartan lead to five points with 1:56 remaining in the third, but CWRU scored the final three points of the period to stretch the lead back to eight points, 64-56, heading into the fourth, and a layup by sophomore guard/ forward Emily Plachta to start the final stanza extended the team's lead back to double digits. The Yellowjackets pulled within five points again with 7:07 remaining in the game, but a layup by Characklis and another old-fashioned three-point play from Mitchell put the Spartans back ahead by 10, 71-61, with 6:04 to play. The Spartans remained ahead by at least nine for the remainder of the game and took a game-high 15-point lead on a layup by Characklis on the final basket of the game.

CWRU finished the game shooting 42.9% (30-70) overall and 32.0% (8-25) from three-point range, while making 93.8% (15-16) of its free throw attempts in the game.

The Spartans will wrap up their 2023-24 regular season next weekend at home against Carnegie Mellon. Tip-off from Horsburgh Gymnasium in Cleveland is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. CWRU will also be recognizing its seven players who will be appearing in the final regular season games of their collegiate careers with a 'Senior Day' ceremony before the start of the game.