Women's Basketball Falls in NCAA Tournament to Carnegie Mellon, 69-58

By Jim Fenton

BALTIMORE, Md. -- The Bridgewater State University women's basketball season came to an end Friday in the opening round of the NCAA Division III tournament.

The Bears had their 12-game winning streak halted when they were eliminated by Carnegie Mellon University of Pittsburgh, Pa., 69-58, at Goldfarb Gym on the campus of Johns Hopkins University.

BSU (19-7) held a 35-30 lead over the Tartans (21-5) with less than seven minutes left in the third quarter, but the Bears struggled at the offensive end and the Tartans took advantage.

Carnegie Mellon outscored BSU, 29-11, in nearly 11:30 after trailing by five points and pulled away in the fourth quarter.

It marked the third straight NCAA tourney appearance in which the Bears were in contention for a win heading into the final stretch of the game.

The Bears suffered their first loss since Jan. 8 when they opened the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference scheduled by falling to Salem State University.

The 12 straight wins marked the program's longest winning streak since the 2005-06 season.

Senior Kylie Grassi (Plymouth, Mass.), in her final game with the Bears, had a game-high 20 points with three 3-pointers.

Grassi, who is BSU's all-time leading scorer, finishes with 1,649 points, ahead of second-place Jenna Williamson (1,365).

She also finishes with a BSU record 542 field goals and 459 free throws.

Freshman Lexi Thompson (New Bedford, Mass.) was the only other Bears' player in double figures with 10 points.

Senior Arielle Cleveland (Groveland, Mass.) had seven points, four rebounds and three assists while graduate student Kylee Piche (Bridgewater, Mass.) had seven points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Carnegie Mellon, which tied the program record for wins in a season, was led by senior Catherine Or (Los Angeles, Calif.) with 18 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and four steals.

Senior Isha Nambisan (Fremont, Calif.) chipped in with 14 points and four rebounds.

Senior Anisha Chintala (Austin, Texas) added 12 points, six rebounds and three steals while junior Savannah Gibbs (Danvers, Mass.) had 11 points and four rebounds.

BSU was outrebounded, 41-23, with the Tartans holding a 12-6 edge in offensive rebounds.

Carnegie Mellon made 46 percent of its shots while the Bears hit just 33 percent (18-for-54), including 10-for-32 in the second half).

The game was tied at 30 when Grassi hit a basket and a 3-pointer in the span of 1:10 to put the Bears in front, 35-30, with 7:01 left in the third quarter.

But BSU managed just six points the rest of the quarter, all from the foul line.

Carnegie Mellon took a 40-37 lead with 2:48 to go on a layup by freshman Payton Baney (Williamsport, Pa.). The lead went to 44-39 before Grassi hit two foul shots with five second remaining to get the Bears within 44-41.

BSU missed its final seven shots of the quarter after opening that five-point lead.

The Tartans had a 49-41 lead in the opening minute of the final quarter after two foul shots by Nambisan and a three-point play by Or.

BSU pulled within 49-46 on a basket by Thompson and a 3-pointer by Cleveland from the right corner with 8:07 left.

But that is as close as the Bears would get.

Carnegie Mellon went on a 10-0 run, getting five points from Nambisan, for the game's largest lead at 59-46 with 5:09 to go.

Sophie Bradbury (East Bridgewater, Mass.) scored five points in a row to make it 59-51, but the Tartans hit their foul shots down the stretch and advanced to Saturday night's second round.

The game was tied at 28 at halftime after the Bears limited the Tartans to five points in the second quarter.

Carnegie Mellon made just 2 of 8 shots in the quarter and turned the ball over nine times, helping BSU rally from a 23-15 deficit after the opening 10 minutes.

The Tartans' lone points in the quarter were a free throw by Gibbs with 9:25 left in the half, a basket by Or with 6:16 remaining and a layup by Baney with 52 seconds to go.

Two Grassi baskets enabled BSU to pull within 26-22 and two free throws each by Cleveland, junior Haley Burchhardt (Schendtady, N.Y.) and Piche put the Bears in front, 28-26, with 1:56 to go in the half.

Baney's basket in the final minute sent the teams to the locker room in a tie.

BSU opened the game on a 7-1 run with Grassi scoring five of the points and Piche adding a layup.

But Carnegie Mellon answered with a 14-1 run to take a 15-8 lead with 4:03 left in the first quarter.

The Bears' managed only a foul shot by Piche in that stretch.

BSU then scored seven straight points to make it 15-15, Thompson getting four of the points, but Carnegie Mellon finished the quarter with eight straight points in the last 1:20 for the 23-15 lead.

This marked the first time since a Jan. 4 loss to nationally ranked Smith College that the Bears failed to score 60 points.

BSU was looking for its first NCAA tourney win since defeating Rhode Island College in 1985.

Carnegie Mellon, a member of the United Athletic Association, is in the tourney for the first time since 2016 and is now 4-3 all-time.

It marked the final game for six Bears, including Grassi, Cleveland, Piche, Jessica D'Amours (Feeding Hills, Mass.), Eryn Rice (Medway, Mass.) and Jordan Peebles (Middleboro, Mass.).

Peeple, a key frontcourt reserve, did not play after suffering a knee injury in the MASCAC final last Saturday afternoon.

This was the Bears' 12th trip to the NCAAs and eighth under coach Bridgett Casey.