CLEVELAND, Ohio – (RV) University of Chicago women's basketball hit the road after a successful two game homestand last weekend and took on the Spartans of Case Western Reserve to kick off four straight contests away from Chicago. The Maroons defense came to play and provided two shutdown quarters to silence the Spartans with a 16-point victory in Cleveland on Friday night.

FINAL SCORE
(RV) UChicago – 59
Case Western Reserve – 43

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The defensive battle began with 15 opening quarter points from each team but the first (RV) University of Chicago (13-6, 6-2 UAA) lockdown frame came in the next ten minutes. The Maroons held Case Western Reserve University (8-11, 1-7 UAA) to just five points off of 11.7 percent shooting from the field. UChicago shot a team low 26.6 percent in the quarter but still managed to throw up 12 tallies on the scoreboard and led by seven at half.
• Scoring came back in the third for each squad, but the Maroons were still able add to their advantage. Both teams shot over 50 percent in the stanza but UChicago sank four of their six shots from behind the arc, including one make from Kendall Braaten, Ellie Gross, Kate Gross, and Sophia North each, to go up by nine with one period left.
• Another even number frame rolled around which meant another shutdown performance for the Maroons and not a lot of scoring for the Spartans. The home team netted just seven points which prevented them from mounting any sort of comeback that would challenge the Maroons lead. Meanwhile, it was another 14-point frame for UChicago as they complete the season sweep of CWRU and grab their third win in a row.

CHICAGO COMMENTS

• All five starters scored at least six points, but the team was led by Lindsey Carter who came off the bench with ten.
• Marissa Powe's ten rebounds tonight gave her 172 on the season, tying her 2022-23 performance for the best single year of her career. She also topped the 400 mark during her time with the Maroons this evening and will go into the next game 99 away from 500.
• "Tonight was a hard-fought gritty win. We knew how important it was to remain aggressive in order to have a great start to the back-half of the conference season. At this point, we all know each other super well and it's important to be the tougher team. I'm really proud of our defense and how we competed for all 40 minutes today." - Senior guard Marissa Powe
• "Our defensive effort tonight was fantastic. As we hit this road stretch, we've been talking about how we need to rely on our D and this is a great kick off to that. We're locked in and executing the game plan. It's giving us confidence when we need it." - Head coach Maria Williamson 

UCHICAGO STAT TRACKER
Points – Lindsey Carter (10)
Rebounds – Marissa Powe (10)
Assists – Ellie Gross & Sophia North (3)
Steals – Ellie Gross (3)
Blocks – Three with one

WHO'S ON DECK
The Maroons will try to make it four in a row when they travel to Pittsburgh to take on Carnegie Mellon on Sunday. Tipoff against the Tartans is slated for 1:00 pm eastern.

For up-to-the-minute University of Chicago Maroons news, visit www.athletics.uchicago.edu. You can also follow us on Twitter @uchicagoath and @uchicagoathletics on Instagram.