February 25, 2006

Maroons Fall to #3 Washington

CHICAGO -- Washington (Mo.) University's Kelly Manning scored a University Athletic Association record 39 points to lead the third-ranked Bears to an 87-77 win over the University of Chicago women's basketball team in the regular season finale for both teams Saturday at the Ratner Athletics Center.

Manning connected on 14 of 27 attempts from the field, including a 2-for-4 effort from three-point range, and was perfect on nine free throw tries en route to her record-setting performance. She eclipsed the previous conference scoring mark of 37 points, set by New York University's Marsha Harris during the 1997-98 season.

Washington (23-2 overall, 13-1 UAA) never trailed in the contest.

The Bears took a 47-44 lead at halftime, before Chicago (17-8, 6-8) tied the game at 51-51 on a three-point basket by senior Jenn Kaiser (San Diego, Calif./ LaJolla) with 17:20 remaining.

Washington countered with an 8-0 run to take a 59-51 lead at the 13:24 mark. The Bears built their largest lead of the day, 75-62, when Manning hit a jumper with 4:54 to go.

Chicago used an 11-2 run to cut the deficit to 77-73 with 2:38 left and remained within four points, 81-77, at the 1:32 mark following a layup by sophomore Nofi Mojidi (Silver Spring, Md./ Bullis School). Mojidi paced the Maroons with a career-high 26 points -- the most by a Chicago player this season.

Manning hit four foul shots in the game's final 1:18 as the Bears held on for their 10th consecutive victory.

Senior Janae Winner (Lincoln, Neb./ Christian) finished with 12 points and six assists, while junior Korry Schwanz (Menominee, Mich./ Menominee) and freshman Alex Leach (Gurnee, Ill./ Warren) each added 10 points. Leach also grabbed 11 rebounds en route to her first-ever double-double.

Danielle Beehler collected 20 points, 12 boards, and four assists for the Bears. Katie Benson and Shanna-Lei Dananay each scored 11 points.

Chicago's 17 wins marked the program's highest victory output since 1994-95.

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