From NYU Athletics
The New York University women's basketball team defeated the University of Rochester 64-61 in University Athletic Association (UAA) play on Friday evening, February 3, at the Sportsplex in Manhattan.
"I'm proud of our girls," said NYU Head Coach Lauren Hall-Gregory. "They competed and connected for 40 minutes and were playing for each other. It wasn't necessarily pretty, but we played hard and pulled it out as a team."
NYU (11-8, 1-7) opened up the scoring on a basket from Kayla Patterson before the Yellowjackets (14-5, 5-3 UAA) used a 9-0 run to take a seven-point lead. The visitors led for the rest of the first quarter and held on to a 19-12 advantage after the first 10 minutes of play.
The Violets scored the first eight points of the second quarter to go ahead 20-19. The squads traded baskets for much of the way before a jumper from Mikaela Pyatt gave NYU a three-point lead at halftime.
The Violets led by as many as eight, 41-33 midway through the third quarter, but a late U of R run closed the margin to four after three quarters.
Rochester took a 53-52 lead with 5:39 remaining, but a Shaye McGoey jumper gave NYU a lead it was able to hold on to. After late free throws from senior captains Amy Harioka and Lindsey Oldshue put the Violets ahead by three, the Yellowjackets had a chance to tie the game at the buzzer, but a three-point shot from Lizzy Atkinson hit the back rim and NYU held on for its first UAA win of the season.
"Amy and Lindsey have been here before and have been playing in these close UAA games for four years," added Hall-Gregory.
Atkinson led all scorers with a career-high 17 points. McGoey was the Violets' top scorer, tallying 14 points to go along with a game-high six assists.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Oldshue (11 points) and Harioka (10 points) joined McGoey in double figures. Fellow senior captain Simone Jacques chipped in with nine.
- Patterson grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds to go along with seven points.
- NYU turned the ball over a season-low nine times. Its previous low was 14 on three different occasions.
"This was a confidence builder," concluded Hall-Gregory. "But we play a great Emory squad on Sunday and need to stay hungry."