PITTSBURGH – Down by double digits in the second half, the University of Chicago women's basketball team mounted a fierce comeback on Sunday afternoon to defeat Carnegie Mellon University 58-52.

The Maroons improved to 10-7 on the season and 3-4 in the University Athletic Association (UAA). The Tartans fell to 9-7 and 3-4 in UAA action.

Cold shooting plagued UChicago in the first half – the visitors were held to 7-for-28 shooting on field goals (25 percent). CMU took advantage to lead by as many as 13 in the opening 20 minutes of play. A 12-0 streak by the hosts put them up eight in the first quarter.

First-year Bella Alfaro sunk a trey to get UChicago back to within 16-13 in the second quarter. But the Tartans kept the momentum rolling with a 12-2 run to increase their advantage to 28-15. At the halftime buzzer, the score stood at 30-20.

The second half played out as the inverse of how the first half transpired. The forward combo of senior Klaire Steffens and junior Mallory Brodnik caught fire in the third quarter with 17 points between them. Steffens and Brodnik racked up their team's first 13 points to tie the score up at 33-33, with a Steffens three-pointer providing the exclamation point.

Carnegie Mellon weathered the storm initially and went back up by seven at 43-36. However, the Maroons clawed their way back once again to trail by only three heading into the fourth quarter. UChicago shot 53.8 percent on its field goals in the period.

The Maroon defense shut down the Tartans definitively over the final nine minutes of game time. Clinging to a narrow 49-46 lead, the home side only scored one basket the rest of the way – a layup with eight seconds left after the result had already been decided.

UChicago's 10-0 run put the visitors ahead 56-49 with two minutes left, and they salted the game away to win by six.

Brodnik established a new career-high of 21 points to go with five rebounds. She shot 11 of 12 from the free throw line. Steffens tallied 12 points, nine rebounds and five steals. Junior Grace Hynes added eight points and eight rebounds.

The Maroons shot 35.3 percent on field goals, 30.8 percent on three-pointers (4-13) and 78.3 percent on free throws (18-23). The Tartans made 38.2 percent from the field, 21.4 percent from beyond the arc (3-14) and 77.8 percent from the charity stripe (7-9).

UChicago held sway on the boards (38-33) and in the turnover column (15-18). The visitors possessed an 18-6 advantage in points off turnovers.

NEXT GAME:

• Friday, Feb. 4 @ 7:30 PM – Case Western Reserve University at UChicago