Box Score
The New York University women's basketball team dropped its third straight contest on Wednesday night, December 8, falling 63-57 to Manhattanville College in Purchase, NY.
In a back-and-forth contest that featured 13 ties and 11 lead changes, NYU (4-3) was done in by a scoreless drought in the closing stages of the game that lasted nearly six minutes.
After a pair of Maggie Ely free throws brought the Violets to within two, 52-50, with 6:22 to play, the Valiants (4-4) held NYU off the board until there were just 38 seconds remaining. In that time Manhattanville's lead expanded from two to a game-high nine.
“We struggled a lot of the game rebounding-wise,” said head coach Stefano Trompeo. “Even though we won the rebounding matchup if you look at the numbers, we gave up too many at critical times. In critical moments we have been giving up too many rebounds and the other teams are making us pay.”
The Violets' defense was as tough as Manhattanville's over that stretch, making three steals in the span of 1:07 and keeping the Valiants from scoring for nearly four minutes. But Taylor Wilson's three-pointer with 2:39 left and back-to-back jumpers from Courtney Turner turned the game in favor of the home team.
Makenzie Hirz's layup with 38 ticks left finally snapped NYU's scoreless stretch, but by then it was too late. The Violets would cut the deficit to six with 22 seconds to play before Turner sank two free throws to put the game out of reach.
The late drought came after a promising start to the second half. The teams entered halftime tied at 28-all after putting up nearly identical numbers from the floor in the first period, but NYU came out strong in the second. Hirz hit a pair of layups to get the Violets started, and after a Turner layup for Manhattanville, Ely drained a trey to give NYU its biggest lead of the game at five, 35-30.
After the squads traded lead after lead, Chelsea Blake gave the Violets their final advantage of the night at the 9:37 mark, 46-45, on a layup. Janetta Arnold put the Valiants back on top with a layup of her own and Manhattanville hung on from there.
“We couldn't put together enough consecutive stops to create separation,” commented Trompeo. “Obviously, we came out of second half pretty strong, but in a tight game like that, you can't trade basket for basket or stop for stop. When you do get a stop you have to capitalize offensively, and we didn't do that enough.”
Ely led NYU with 17 points, while Hirz added 14. Blake had seven points and a team-best seven assists, while Erica Franke pulled down a game- and career-high 10 rebounds.
Turner led the Valiants with 23 points as well as six boards. Wilson added 11 points, and Simona Gordon had seven points and seven rebounds.
The Violets are back in action on Saturday afternoon when they host Juniata College at the Coles Sports Center. Tip-off is set for 3:00 pm.
