Boxscore

The New York University women's basketball team advanced to Sunday's ECAC Metro Championship game with a 64-54 win over Drew University on Saturday night at the Canavan Arena in Hoboken, NJ.

The Violets (15-12) will face host and top-seed Stevens Institute of Technology, a 52-45 winner over Brooklyn College, in the other semifinal, at 6:00pm on Sunday.

NYU, the #6 seed in the tournament, raced to a 7-0 lead in the game and never trailed. The #7-seeded Rangers (15-12) didn't score their first basket of the game until almost five minutes had elapsed.

The Violets took their largest lead of the first half, 18-5, on a jumper by Bianca Storts with 11:04 remaining.

Drew managed to pull within five, 28-23, on Jana Jagodzinski's jumper with 3:21 left. But, a 9-3 NYU run to close the first half gave the Violets a 37-26 lead heading into intermission.

The Rangers came out strong in the second half, producing a 10-3 run and pulling to within 40-36 on Jessica Reid's lay-up with 13:33 remaining.

However, Grace Carmen, who scored 11 of her 14 points in the second half, followed with a jumper, Storts hit a lay-up and a jumper, and Carmen hit another basket to keep Drew from getting any closer.

The NYU lead expanded to as many as 11 in the second half before the Violets settled for the 10-point victory.

Storts finished with a team- and season-high 16 points.

“Bianca has always had that killer mentality about her,” said head coach Stefano Trompeo. “She's a great athlete who has the ability to dominate.”

MacKenzie Hirz added 10 points and seven rebounds for the Violets, while Chelsea Blake snared a career-high 10 rebounds.

Shelby Coon scored the first five points of rookie season, all in the first half.

Reid led Drew with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

“Our goal coming in to the tournament was to win it all,” Trompeo said. “We have one step left to accomplish.”