From NYU Athletics
The New York University women's basketball team continued its unbeaten streak to start the 2015-16 season with a 49-38 victory over Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, on Saturda, November 18.
The Violets (5-0) entered the contest ranked #5 and #6 in the most recent D3hoops.com and USA Today Top-25 Polls, respectively. Despite not having any one player standout offensively, NYU was able to hold the Blue Jays (2-2) to just 38 points and a 31.3 shooting percentage (15-of-48) en route to the defensive victory. Overall, the Violets held every Blue Jay player to single-digit point totals.
"I think we really challenged our team this week to press on defense," said NYU Head Coach Lauren Hall-Gregory. "We've played some really good teams and we needed to improve on our half-court defense. I think we really did that, played as a team in the half court, and that showed today."
Leading the effort for the Violets was Megan Dawe. The senior captain scored a game-high 12 points and tied a game best with eight rebounds. The 6-foot forward also added two steals and a block.
Kaitlyn Read and Riley Wurtz were key contributors for NYU, as well. Read led all players in both steals (7) and assists (6) to go with eight points and eight rebounds. Wurtz finished with eight points as well, and also had seven rebounds, an assist, a steal, and a game-high-tying two blocks.
"Riley did a good job controlling the tempo of the game, passing, rebounding on both ends, and even though the stat sheet didn't show it today, she gives us such great opportunities at the point," continued Hall-Gregory. "Kaitlyn is such a good player for us, as well, because she doesn't just have to score to impact the game."
In the first half, NYU's largest lead was 13 following the first basket of the second quarter courtesy of Drew Cabral just 49 seconds in. A few minutes later, Johns Hopkins when on a 7-0 run thanks to four points from Katie Clark to trim the Violets lead to five with just over two minutes left in the half.
Dawe's basket at 6:26 of the third quarter capped a 6-0 run for the Violets as they were able to stretch their lead to 15. But, the Blue Jays again cut the deficit back to five points with just 25 second remaining in the quarter. Amy Harioka squashed any momentum Hopkins was looking for, however, as the junior drilled a three-pointer -- the Violets only of the day -- at the buzzer to give NYU the eight-point lead at 37-29 entering the fourth.
"In a game that neither team is scoring a lot of points, every basket is so important," said Hall-Gregory. "The fact that we were so composed and got an uncontested three-point shot at the end of the third shows that if we trust the offense, we'll keep getting those high-percentage looks as the season goes on."
The Violets controlled the fourth quarter, leading by as much as 16 points twice.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Lindsey Oldshue, Mikaela Pyatt and Cabral all finished with six points. Oldshue also had four rebounds and two steals. Pyatt added two boards, while Cabral notched two steals and an assist.
- Eight NYU players saw double-digit minutes, led by Read's game-high 32.