Trailing by three points with just over two minutes remaining, the Case Western Reserve University women's basketball team ended its game on Saturday on a 10-0 run to defeat Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges 58-51 and win the MSOE STEM Tip-Off Tournament in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Saturday night.

The Spartans now stand at 2-0 on the season after winning both of their tournament games to claim the championship, while the Athenas dropped to 1-1.

Stats and Standouts

• Playing in her hometown, sophomore guard Mya Hartjes matched her career high with 23 points while setting a career high with 14 rebounds. She finished the game shooting five-of-10 overall and two-of-five from long range, while converting 11-of-12 free throw attempts and adding a team-high three assists and a steal.

• A day after scoring a career-high 24 points in a win over Rose-Hulman, senior guard Emily Plachta dropped 19 points against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps to take home the tournament's Most Valuable Player honor. She made four-of-nine shots from the floor (including three-of-six from three-point range) and eight-of-nine free throws, with four rebounds, an assist, and two steals.

• Junior forward Biz Watson came off the bench to score four points and collect a career-high eight rebounds.

• CWRU finished the game shooting 29.5% (13-44) from the floor, 20.7% (6-29) from three-point range, and 78.8% (26-33) from the free throw line. The Spartans had a 39-36 edge in rebounds.

First Period

• The Spartans got off to a strong start for the second straight game. After the teams exchanged two-pointers to begin the game, CWRU went on an 11-0 run that was bookended by three-pointers from Plachta, as the team jumped out to a 13-2 lead with 3:27 left in the quarter.

• Hartjes hit a layup at the end of the first frame to give the Spartans a 15-5 lead heading into the second period.

Second Period

• The second was the Spartans' best shooting quarter of the day, as the team notched a 36.4% mark from the floor during the period.

• CWRU maintained a double-digit lead throughout the quarter, going ahead by 20 late in the period after a pair of free throws by Plachta with 59 seconds remaining made it 31-11. 

• A 5-0 run from the Athenas at the end of the half cut the Spartans' lead to 31-16 by the break.

Third Period

• The Athenas began to eat away at the Spartans' lead, trimming the advantage back to single digits with 3:39 left in the frame.

• A three-pointer from sophomore guard Taylor Angielski put the Spartans back ahead by 10 with 2:46 to go in the third, but Claremont-Mudd-Scripps closed out the period with five-straight points to cut the lead to 39-33 heading into the fourth.

Fourth Period

• The Athenas were able to tie the game at 41-41 with 8:38 to play and took their first lead of the day on a three with 7:23 to play.

• The game remained within a possession either way with CMS holding a three-point lead, 51-48, with 2:21 on the clock.

• Hartjes converted a pair of free throws with 2:10 to play to make it a one-point game, and after a blocked shot by Watson on the Athena's next possession gave the Spartans the ball back, Plachta hit a layup and was fouled, converting the resulting free throw to put CWRU ahead 53-51 with 1:22 to go.

• The CWRU defense held strong the rest of the way, keeping Claremont-Mudd-Scripps off the board during the final 82 seconds of the contest, and the Spartans converted five-of-six free throw attempts in the final minute to lock down the seven-point win.

Spartan Notes

• With her 23 points on Saturday, Hartjes surpassed 500 points for her career.

• The double-double was the third of Hartjes' career and her first since scoring 18 points with 11 rebounds against Capital on November 20, 2024.

• This is the first time that the Spartans have won their first two games of the season since the 2022-23 campaign and the 14th time overall in program history.

• CWRU improved to 1-1 all-time against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps with the only other meeting resulting in a 78-58 CWRU loss during the 2017-18 season.

Up Next

The Spartans will return to Cleveland for their first home game of the campaign, hosting Adrian College inside Horsburgh Gymnasium at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 15.