Washington U. Falls at No. 21 Chicago, 76-53

WASHINGTON U.-CHICAGO BOX

Chicago, Ill., March 1, 2008 – No. 21 University of Chicago captured the 2008 University Athletic Association (UAA) women’s basketball championship with a 76-53 win over No. 23 Washington University in St. Louis on Saturday afternoon at the Gerald Ratner Athletics Center in Chicago, Ill.

Chicago, which captured its second UAA title in school history, receives the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, while Washington U. remains a candidate for an at-large bid. The 63-team NCAA Tournament bracket will be announced Monday, March 3, on www.ncaasports.com at 8 a.m.

Chicago jumped out in front 15-6 early in the first half as Washington U. hit just 2-of-8 from the field and committed three turnovers. A three-pointer by Dana Kaplan and two lay-ups by Molly Hackney capped an 11-0 run, pushing the Chicago advantage to 22-6. Junior Shanna-Lei Dacanay ended WU’s scoring drought of 4:53 with an 18-foot jumper at the 9:44 mark.

Washington University (18-7, 10-4 UAA) continued to struggle to get into its offensive sets, and a three-pointer by Nofi Mojidi pushed Chicago’s lead to 27-12 with less than four minutes to play.

Chicago (20-5, 11-3 UAA) held a 37-16 halftime advantage, as Washington U. was held to 25 percent (6-24) shooting from the field. Hackney had 12 points and Mojidi added 11 for the Maroons. Chicago forced 10 turnovers in the first half, and had a 15-0 advantage in points off turnovers.

The Maroons built its largest lead of the game at 48-22 after a jumper by Hackney at the 15:11, before Washington U. began to mount a comeback. Back-to-back three-pointers by junior Halsey Ward and sophomore Zoë Unruh ignited an 10-0 run to trim the lead to 48-32. That is as close as the Bears would come, as Chicago scored eight of the next 10 points to up the lead to 22 (54-36).

Unruh led the Bears with 14 points and seven rebounds, while sophomore Janice Evans finished with eight points and 10 rebounds. Ward connected on a three-pointer at the 13:54 mark of the second half, tying Meg Sullivan for 10th on the all-time WU list with 66.

Mojidi led all scorers with a season-high 25 points, while Hackney added 18 and Anna Woods had 13 points and 12 rebounds.