PITTSBURGH, PA.  --  Cold shooting led to a 61-29 loss for the Hiram College women's basketball team against Carnegie (Pa.) Mellon University in a non-conference game in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Hiram (3-2 overall) jumped out to an early 7-2 lead, but Carnegie Mellon (5-1 overall) then battled back to even the score at 7-7 at the 13:58 minute mark of the first half.  Both teams then went cold as no points were scored for the next 3:27 until the Tartans finally ended the drought with one-of-two free-throws to take an 8-7 lead with 10:31 left in the period.  CMU slowly began to pull away and took control with a 9-0 scoring run late in the half to go up by 12 points, 24-12, at the 4:01 mark.  The Tartans maintained their double-digit lead until the end of the half when Hiram junior guard/forward Alexis Kemper (Centerville) connected on a jumper to end the scoring and narrowed the gap to 29-20 at the break.

The shooting woes continued for Hiram in the second half as the Terriers made just two baskets for the period and shot 7.1 percent (two-of-28) from the floor.  CMU took advantage of the poor shooting right from the start, beginning the half with a 15-0 run to make the score 44-20 with 14:02 left to play.  Hiram wouldn't record its first points of the period until the 13:47 mark when junior guard Marisa Thomas (Lorain/Amherst) found the bottom of the net, but the Terriers trailed 44-22.  CMU went on to lead by as many as 33 points, 61-28, with 3:06 left to play en route to the 61-29 overall victory.

CMU was led in scoring by Emily Peel with a game-high 17 points on five-of-11 shooting (45.5 percent), including going seven-of-eight (87.5 percent) at the free-throw line.  She also grabbed seven rebounds.  Liza Otto was the only other Tarten in double-figures with 11 points and 11 rebounds to go along with a game-high seven assists.

Hiram ended up shooting 17.5 percent (10-of-57) from the field and was led by the duo of Thomas and senior guard Calysia Smyers (Akron/Coventry) with eight points each. 

Hiram will end its road trip when it travels to Wooster for a matchup against The College of Wooster on Saturday, Dec. 1 in the North Coast Athletic Conference opener.  The game is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.