Women's Basketball Edged by #12 Washington on Senior Day

Violets Pull to Within Two in Second Half Before Bears' Run

From left to right: head coach Stefano Trompeo, Bianca Storts, Cara Bonito, Tana Bertino, Shelby Coon, Erica Franke, and Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs/Director of Athletics Christopher Bledsoe.

Box Score

The New York University women's basketball team trailed by two with 12:10 to play before #12 Washington University went on a 14-2 run to pull away, as the Bears won 76-59 on Sunday, February 19, at the Coles Sports Center in Manhattan.

NYU (10-14, 2-11) trailed by as much as 11 in the opening stages of the second half before nearly coming all the way back. Down 40-30, the Violets went on an 8-0 run to pull to within two, as Tana Bertino drained a three-pointer, Bianca Storts converted a three-point play and Shelby Coon hit a jumper.

NYU again got as close as two points two more times. First, Storts sank a three-pointer at the 13:06 mark to make it 44-42. After Claire Schaeperkoetter responded with a layup for Washington (20-4, 10-3), Melissa Peng fed Alexis Doherty for a layup to make it 46-44 with 12:10 left.

From there, though, the Bears took over, scoring 14 of the next 16 points. Schaeperkoetter drained back-to-back threes late in the run, and Brianne Monahan capped it with a layup at the 8:32 mark. The Violets got no closer than 11 the rest of the way.

The early stages of the first half were tight before Maddy Scheppers hit back-to-back threes for Washington to give the Bears a 23-16 lead. Diana Leondis' triple with 2:50 left in the period cut it to five, but Washington took a 34-26 advantage into halftime after a Monahan layup with 23 seconds left.

Melissa Gilkey converted a three-point play to start the second half and give the Bears an 11-point lead. NYU fought back, but it was unable to get over the hump before Washington's big run.

Prior to the game, the Violets honored their five graduating seniors – Bertino, Cara Bonito, Coon, Erica Franke, and Storts. All five started in their final career game at Coles.

Storts scored a game-high 21 points and added five rebounds, while Bertino netted 16 points on 4-5 shooting from beyond the arc. Bonito doled out five assists.

Monahan recorded a double-double for the Bears, scoring 17 points and pulling down 12 boards. Jordan Rettig had 12 points and six rebounds, while Dani Hoover totaled 11 points, eight boards and three helpers. Schaeperkoetter (12 points) and Scheppers (11 points) also scored in double figures.

NYU returns to action for its season finale on Saturday, Feb. 25, at rival Brandeis University. Tip-off is at 1:00 pm.