University of Rochester women's basketball raced past RIT, leading wire-to-wire in the final game of their non-conference slate en route to an 87-43 victory on Wednesday evening inside Clark Gymnasium.
The Yellowjackets (5-6) scored the first 10 points of the contest, holding the Tigers (3-6) without a bucket for the first four minutes of play. Rylee Drahos got the scoring going with a jumper just over 20 seconds in before back-to-back buckets from Abby Gress made it a 6-0 UR lead.
Claire Groenewoud and Callie McCulley added a jumper and two free throws to make it a 10-point lead, before RIT answered with a run of their own, scoring the next seven points of the quarter to pull within three on Lauren Sabia's three-point play.
However, the 'Jackets would answer with eight straight of their own, as Hannah Lindemuth's triple at the 3:13 mark of the first quarter kick-started an 8-0 UR run, opening up the Yellowjackets' largest lead of the opening period.
Kat Jenks scored the next five points, extending the 'Jackets lead to 18-7 with 2:27 left in the first before Emma Rose sank the Tigers' first three-pointer of the night to cut the deficit back to single digits.
Lindemuth would add another three-pointer before the end of the first quarter, one of four makes on the night before the 'Jackets added eight more to open the second quarter and take a 29-10 lead.
After outscoring the Tigers, 21-10 in the opening period, Rochester more than doubled up the Tigers, 16-6, in the second quarter.
Ella Wilson got the Tigers on the scoreboard at the 5:03 mark of the second following an 8-0 UR run, but the 'Jackets would keep rolling, with Tia Poulakidas and Franki Gomez scoring six of the next eight points to extend the lead to 35-14.
RIT would add two more buckets in the quarter before Drahos scored on the Yellowjackets' last possession, giving Rochester a 37-16 lead at the halftime break.
Rochester would keep things rolling in the third, with Gress scoring UR's first six points of the period. The senior's layup and jumper made it a 43-19 lead with 7:10 to play in the third before Lindemuth's jumper from Drahos made it a 25-point UR advantage.
Lindemuth would knock down two more triples just shy of the three-minute mark in the third, before buckets from Bridget Miller and Hailey Bruneau sent the Yellowjackets into the fourth with a 67-35 lead.
The Yellowjackets would finish things off with an 8-0 run following Erin DiPaola's layup to start the third, once again more than doubling up the home Tigers in the fourth.
Raquel Williams' free throw capped off the 8-0, and the junior would start an 8-2 run with her layup at the 4:34 mark of the fourth. Peyton Jones capped off the run by going 1-for-2 at the line to make it a 41-point lead, before two buckets from Alex Sullivan finished off the fourth, giving Rochester an 87-43 victory.
The 'Jackets pick up their fifth win of the year and wrap up non-conference play at 5-6, while the Tigers drop to 3-6 on the year.
Four Yellowjackets scored in double figures, led by Lindemuth's 14 points, while Gress added 12 and Jenks and Poulakidas each tallied 10. Miller led Rochester on the glass with 10 rebounds while Haley Dumiak added eight, and Gomez tallied a team-high four assists.
Defensively, Poulakidas led Rochester with three steals, while Drahos and Williams each tallied a pair of blocks.
As a team, Rochester shot 43.8 percent from the field and 6-for-19 from three, while holding the Tigers to 26.7 percent shooting and 4-for-22 from distance.
The Yellowjackets dominated nearly every statistical category against RIT, outrebounding the Tigers, 59-31, including 19 on the offensive glass, and outscoring RIT in the paint, 54-16.