NYU's NCAA Run Ends With 74-51 Loss to Amherst in Sweet 16

New York University saw its run through the brackets of the 2009 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship end with a 74-51 loss to Amherst College in the Sweet 16 on Friday night at LeFrak Gymnasium in Amherst, MA.

Making its 13th appearance in the Sweet 16, the Violets ended their season with a 23-5 record, but could not overcome their first-half offensive struggles despite pulling within three points on three second-half occasions.

Grace Carmen paced NYU with nine points. All-American and three-time University Athletic Association (UAA) Player of the Year Jessica McEntee, one of the most celebrated women's basketball players in Violet history, capped her career with six points and seven rebounds in her final collegiate game before fouling out with 2:27 remaining.

Shannon Finucane led both teams with 18 points and eight assists for Amherst (28-2).

Despite cold shooting and a couple of extended dry spells that led to a 32-22 halftime deficit – the Violets hit 26.1% (6-for-23) of their shots in the opening stanza and 28.3% (13-for-46) overall – they got into an offensive rhythm to start the second half as Carmen converted lay-ups on their first two possessions. Soon enough, NYU had cut the Amherst lead down to three points on three occasions, the last time on an old-fashioned three-point play by Christine Kilmurray (8 points) that made it 41-38 with 12:29 remaining.

However, the Violets found themselves on the wrong end of a 12-1 run that included 10 straight points by the Lord Jeffs. Amherst scored six points, including four from the foul line after a NYU technical foul, in a span of 20 seconds en route to eventually seizing a 53-39 advantage with 10:26 remaining.

The Violets never climbed any closer than 10 points before the Lord Jeffs pulled away and assured themselves of an Elite 8 matchup with NYU's UAA rival, Brandeis University, on Saturday evening.

In 108 career games, McEntee finished with 1,711 points and 1,131 rebounds, which rank third and second, respectively, on NYU's career leaderboard. She is also the program's all-time leader in free throws (674), free throws attempted (834) and free throw percentage (80.8). In addition, McEntee recorded 50 career double-doubles, including 15 this season.

Along with McEntee, fellow four-year seniors Gena Brown, Megan Fox (9 rebounds) and Sarah McDevitt helped NYU appear in three NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship brackets and record an 82-28 record during their tenure. Those four, along with Carmen and fellow junior Jen Hum-Traverso, were integral parts of the Violets' 2007 Final Four team.