Box Score

The New York University women's basketball team held a seven-point second-half advantage but could not hold on, falling 55-47 to Case Western Reserve University on Sunday, January 29, at the Coles Sports Center in Manhattan.
 
The Violets (9-9, 1-6) built their seven-point edge early in the second half by going on a 9-2 run. Tana Bertino drained a three and Alexis Doherty hit back-to-back layups during the spurt, which turned a 26-26 tie in a 35-28 NYU lead with 12:52 to play.
 
From there, though, the Spartans (10-8, 3-4) switched from man-to-man defense to zone and took the game over, scoring 24 of the next 31 points. First, Case netted 12 unanswered points, turning a seven-point deficit into a five-point advantage. Bertino put an end to a six-minute Violet scoreless drought with another triple, pulling NYU to within two at 40-38.
 
That turned out to be as close as NYU got, however, as Case used another big spurt – this time 12-4 – to go up by 10 with 1:46 to play. Four different Spartans scored during the decisive run that put them up 52-42.
 
Bertino's fourth trifecta of the game helped the Violets cut it to seven with 1:28 left, but NYU could not get closer than six the rest of the way.
 
“We weren't able to get successful defensive possessions and had too many untimely turnovers,” said head coach Stefano Trompeo of the game-changing sequence. “I was actually okay with the first shots they were getting, but any time they got a second-chance opportunity they made us pay.”
 
Both teams struggled offensively in the first half, as neither shot above 30%. Case scored the first seven points of the game, but the Violets went on a 15-2 run to take the lead midway through the period.
 
The Spartans eventually tied the score at 17-17, but Diana Leondis sank a pair of three-pointers in the final minutes of the half to help NYU take a 24-21 lead into the locker room.
 
The opening seven minutes of the second half belonged to the Violets before Case's big run turned the game around.
 
Bertino led all scorers with 12 points as she shot 4-6 from beyond the arc. Makenzie Hirz recorded her third career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Cara Bonito doled out a career-high-tying eight assists in 37 minutes. Leondis scored eight points off the bench and made a huge block on the perimeter in the first half.
 
Brooke Orcutt paced the Spartans with nine points in just 16 minutes off the bench. Erin Hollinger, Chelsea Peck and Marissa Miles all scored eight points apiece, with Peck adding seven boards and Hollinger six.
 
NYU repeats this weekend's schedule on the road next weekend, as it travels to Pittsburgh and Cleveland. The Violets face Carnegie Mellon University on Friday at 6:00 pm and Case on Sunday at 2:00 pm.