#8/10 Women's Hoops Overcomes #20 Chicago

McEntee's Strong Second Half Helps Secure 71-59 Victory Before 1,560

Jessica McEntee scored a game-high 23 points, leading NYU to its fifth-straight victory.

In a battle of nationally ranked squads locked into a tie atop the University Athletic Association (UAA) standings, All-American Jessica McEntee scored 16 of her game-high 23 points in the second half as New York University pulled away for a 71-59 victory over the University of Chicago before 1,560 on Friday night at the Jerome S. Coles Sports Center.

The Violets (16-1, 5-1 UAA), ranked #8 in the USA Today ESPN Division III Coaches Poll and #10 by D3Hoops.com, won their fifth straight game and improved to 32-11 all-time against the Maroons (13-4, 4-2 UAA), who are tied for 20th in the USA Today ESPN rankings and #20 in the D3Hoops.com Top 25.

Trailing at halftime for just the fourth time this season, NYU got 10 of McEntee's tallies during the first 7:38 of the second period. The reigning two-time UAA Player of the Year hit all four of her free-throw attempts, converted a pair of coast-to-coast drives and even scored underneath as the Violets turned a 34-33 halftime deficit into a 50-37 advantage with 12:22 remaining.

Chicago eventually climbed within 59-54 on a jumper by Karly Kasper with 4:54 remaining, but Jen Hum-Traverso (6 points) canned a three-pointer, Emily Foshag (8 tallies) followed up a 16-foot jumper off a feed from McEntee with a trey, then the senior buried a jumper from the elbow to make it 69-55 with 2:56 remaining.

NYU also received solid contributions from Sarah McDevitt (season-high 9 points), Grace Carmen (8 points, 6 rebounds) and Christine Kilmurray (8 points, 4 rebounds), as all three contributed offensively while helping to hold Chicago to 30.8% (8-for-26) shooting in the second half.

"We pushed the break more in the second half. We got more defensive rebounds. It was just an overall great team performance, which we've talked about all season," NYU interim head coach Stefano Trompeo said. "Sarah McDevitt hit some shots, Emily Foshag hit a big three, Jen had a three. That's exactly what you're looking to get from a team effort."

Earlier in the evening, McEntee became the third NYU basketball player, men's or women's, to tally 1,500 points and 1,000 rebounds when she hit a pair of free throws 3:40 into the contests, joining women's Hall of Famer Patti McCrudden (1,682 points, 1,168 rebounds, 1984-85/1986-89) and men's legend
Cal Ramsey (1,275 points, 1,101 rebounds, 1956-59). She also became the fourth Violet women's basketball standout to reach the 1,500-point plateau, expanding the trio of Marsha Harris (2,140, 1994-98), Jen Krolikowski ( 1,802 tallies, 1993-97) and McCrudden into a quartet.

Although it shot 37.3% (22-for-59) from the floor, NYU hit 40.0% (8-for-20) of its three-point attempts and converted 79.2% of its charity-stripe attempts, going 19-for-24 as McEntee (8-for-10) and Kilmurray (6-for-6) led the way.

Alex Leach led Chicago with 19 points, while Micaela White also reached double digits with 10 tallies.

NYU returns to action Sunday, Feb. 1, when it hosts UAA adversary Washington University (t-#20 USA Today ESPN, #24 D3Hoops.com) at 2 p.m. Chicago travels to Brandeis University and will tip off at the same time.