Peel's 21 Points Not Enough Against Kenyon

(CLEVELAND, Ohio) – The Carnegie Mellon University women's basketball team couldn't overcome a career game by Kenyon College's Maureen Hirt in an 87-72 loss to the Ladies on Sunday, November 27 in the UAA/NCAC Challenge at Case Western Reserve Univesity. The Tartans are now 2-3 on the year as Kenyon improves to 4-2.

The Tartans opened the game hitting five of their first six attempts from the field including two jumpers by sophomore Jacquie Shaw (Portland, Ore./Grant) and two three-pointers by freshman MacKenzie Boyd (Plano, Texas/Plano West) to lead 10-9 three minutes in. The Ladies then went on an 12-5 run to lead 21-15 before freshman Gabrielle West (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) drained a three-pointer at the 11:23 mark to cut the deficit to three points.

Kenyon followed West's three-pointer with an 8-0 run giving the Ladies their largest lead of the half at 11 points before the Tartans knocked it down to eight points, 44-36, at the break.

Both teams shot above 50% for the half with Kenyon making four more baskets than Carnegie Mellon while grabbing three more rebounds.

Junior Emily Peel (Long Valley, N.J./West Morris Central) led the Tartans to within one point, 52-51, with 13:35 to go after scoring seven of the teams' 15 points and assisting on the other three made baskets during a 15-8 dash by the Cardinal and Gray to open the second half.

After a layup by Shaw, which was assisted by Peel, to keep the deficit at one, the Ladies regrouped and rattled off a 20-5 run to build their advantage to 16 points, 74-58, with 6:41 to play. Maureen Hirt had 11 points during Kenyon's run, connecting on four-of-five from the field and one free throw.

Peel led the Tartans with 21 points, 13 coming in the second half, eight rebounds and seven assists. West and Shaw each finished with 16 points as Boyd tallied 12, all on three-pointers. Peel was named to the all-tournamnet team.

Hirt led all scorers with 40 points, a new single-game record for Kenyon, while Kayla Ernst dropped in 24 for the Ladies.

The Tartans return home to face 3-1 Baldwin-Wallace College on Wednesday, November 30 at 7:30 p.m. in Skibo Gymnasium. The game will be the first of a four-game home stand for Carnegie Mellon.