Carmen Helps #12/17 Women's Basketball Turn Back SUNY Brockport

Junior Tallies Career-Best 18 Points as Violets Post Impressive 77-51 Victory

Grace Carmen averaged 13.0 points in two NYU Classic games.

Grace Carmen tallied 12 of her career-high 18 points in the first half, as the New York University women's basketball team seized control en route to claiming a 77-51 victory over SUNY Brockport on Sunday in the NYU Classic at the Jerome S. Coles Sports Center in Manhattan.

Carmen also contributed a pair of old-fashioned three-point plays while grabbing six rebounds and blocking two shots for the Violets (10-0), ranked #12 in the USA Today ESPN Division III Coaches' Poll and #17 by D3Hoops.com, as they led by as many as 29 points in the second half after taking a 33-23 halftime lead.

Carmen and Gena Brown (7 points) earned spots on the All-Classic Team, while Jessica McEntee (13 points, 10 rebounds) was named NYU Classic Most Valuable Player. McEntee recorded her second double-double of the Classic and eighth in nine games played this season, doing so despite playing just 19 minutes due to foul trouble.

"I was very proud of how our team responded after yesterday's game," NYU interim head coach Stefano Trompeo said of the Violets' 65-53 victory over the College of St. Elizabeth on Saturday. "They all knew they didn't play to their potential. They came in for the walk-through for Brockport this morning focused."

Brenlyn Campbell led SUNY Brockport (4-3) with 16 points and earned All-Classic Team honors along with the College of St. Elizabeth's (8-7) Sarah Kozlowski and Salisbury University's (0-11) Janay Johnson. In Sunday's other Classic contest, St. Elizabeth posted a 57-50 victory over Salisbury.

NYU jumped out to a 22-10 lead 7:17 before intermission as Carmen scored eight of her points, doing most of her work in the paint, including a pair of putbacks after her teammates missed shots.

"Grace just got herself in positions where she's very effective," Trompeo said. "She's very good inside of 8-10 feet hitting shots. She worked hard to get herself in position to make those shots. She also did a good job on the offensive and defensive boards."

Meanwhile, the Violets kept Brockport scoreless for a stretch of 5:49 during their opening spurt, establishing their dominance down low: they outrebounded the Eagles 48-21 and outscored them 26-14 on points in the paint.

Megan Fox grabbed nine rebounds off the bench for NYU, while Olivia Tromm contributed 10 points in nine minutes off the bench as 11 different Violets scored.

NYU shot 49.1% (26-for-53) from the field, including 47.6% (10-for-21) from three-point range, while holding the Eagles to 36.5% (19-for-52) shooting, including no three-pointers on eight attempts.

NYU is off until Friday, Jan. 9, when it opens its 14-game University Athletic Association (UAA) schedule against Carnegie Mellon University at the Coles Sports Center. Tip-off time is set for 6 p.m., which will precede the Violets' men's game game against the Tartans at 8 p.m.