A balanced effort led by Jen Hum-Traverso's 15 points guided the New York University women's basketball team past Case Western Reserve University in a battle of University Athletic Association (UAA) rivals Sunday afternoon at the Jerome S. Coles Sports Center.

Hum-Traverso produced 11 of her points after intermission, including an old-fashioned, three-point play with 3:14 left to give the Violets (11-7, 3-4 UAA) a 58-51 cushion en route to winning their second consecutive contest. # Hailey Kimball# was NYU's other double-digit scorer, finishing with 10 tallies.

"I challenged them at halftime and told them, 'If you guys really want to win this game, you will,'" NYU head coach Stefano Trompeo said. "And they did it. I'm very proud of them. To be down six at halftime and win by 12, I'm very proud."

A 12-3 run midway through the first half, combined with 12-for-14 shooting from the charity stripe in the first 20 minutes, enabled the Spartans to leave the court with a 30-24 halftime lead. Evy Iacono, who tied Erin Hollinger for team-high scoring honors with 14 points overall, went 5-for-5 from the foul line and paced all first-half performers with 11 points.

NYU took the lead for good with an 8-0 run midway through the second half, a surge featuring four points apiece from reserves Makenzie Hirz and Kimball that staked their team to a 45-38 advantage with 12:07 remaining. Case Western scored the next seven points, but a 7-3 spurt by the Violets made it 52-45 with 7:51 remaining.

Hum-Traverso, who scored five of her points in the final 5:49, also added four steals while helping to stave the Spartans.

"She made plays," Trompeo said. "That three-point play was huge. I was very proud of her senior leadership."

In winning for the third time in four UAA contests, the Violets received several key contributions. Emily Foshag and Bianca Storts scored nine points each and combined for 11 rebounds, while Chrissy Kilmurray had eight points and six boards. Chelsea Blake contributed seven points, a career-best nine rebounds, five assists and three steals. Finally, Grace Carmen ended with seven tallies and a career-high four assists.

NYU and Case Western will have a rematch next Sunday in Cleveland. Prior to that, the Violets will travel to Pittsburgh to face Carnegie Mellon University on Friday night at 6 p.m.