The 12th-ranked Denison women's basketball team forced 15 second-half turnovers en route to a 63-58 come-from-behind victory over Carnegie Mellon at the UAA/NCAC Challenge at Horsburgh Gymnasium on the campus of Case Western Reserve University.

In the first frame, the Tartans shot 15-of-30 from the field and 4-of-8 from three-point range, while DU converted 11-of-32 from the floor and only 2-of-8 from behind the arc.  CMU also held a 24-13 edge on the glass at the break.

The Tartans opened the second period with a bucket to go up by 14 points, tying their largest lead of the afternoon.  Denison answered by rattling off 10-straight points to trim the deficit to 39-35.  The Big Red run that spanned four minutes and 20 seconds saw five different players score for DU.

Carnegie's scoring drought came to an end at 12:11 with a pair of Emily Peel free throws.  Roughly two minutes later, the Tartan's nine-minute field goal drought ended when Gabrielle West knocked down a jumper to give CMU a 43-37 edge.

At the 8:41 mark, junior Nicole Coggins drained a key three-pointer off an assist from junior post Lucy Follansbee.  Coggins' triple trimmed the deficit to 45-42.  A minute and a half later, sophomore Gretchen Staubach shrunk the margin to one with a long range jumper.

Trailing by six with 6:26 on the clock, Staubach hit a jumper to make it a four-point game.  On the ensuing possession, Coggins knocked down another three to close the gap to 50-49.  Following a Carnegie Mellon turnover, sophomore Jane Windler buried a jumper to give Denison its first lead of the game at 51-50 with 4:55 to play.

Ahead 53-51, Coggins drilled a deep jumper to retake a four-point edge.  After first-year Alyx Ingram came up with a steal on CMU's next possession, Coggins found Windler who hit a deep baseline jumper with 2:51 remaining.  Down 61-55, West converted an old-fashioned three-point play to trim the deficit to three with seven second on the clock.  However, junior point guard Serafina Nuzzo knocked down a pair of free throws to secure the five-point win.

For the game, both teams shot roughly 40 percent from the floor.  The Big Red generated 25 points off 28 CMU turnovers and got 36 points from their bench.  Carnegie Mellon held a 22-20 scoring edge in the paint and a 42-31 advantage on the boards.

Windler paced the Big Red with 15 points and six rebounds, while Nuzzo finished with 11 points and four boards.  Coggins and Staubach each chipped in 10 points.  Coggins also had eight assists and three steals, while Staubach pulled down five rebounds.

West finished with a game-high 17 points to lead the Tartans, while Jaquie Shaw and Peel chipped in 15 and 13 rebounds, respectively.  On the glass, Jennifer Larsen grabbed nine rebounds, while Peel and Shaw each had eight boards.

Denison improves to 4-1, while Carnegie Mellon falls to 2-2.  The Big Red closes out the UAA/NCAC Challenge on Sunday afternoon.  DU will take on the host Spartans at 4 p.m.