The New York University women's basketball team, ranked #14 by
D3hoops.com and #15 by
USA Today, suffered a tough loss to Emory University, 65-59, on Friday evening, February 12, in Atlanta, GA.
"We didn't play particularly well, and a lot of that is credited to Emory's defense," said NYU Head Coach Lauren Hall-Gregory. "But, we put ourselves in a position to win. We just didn't execute defensively in those last few possessions."For the the Violets (17-4, 6-4 University Athletic Association), the squad has now lost three straight, while the Eagles (12-9, 3-7 UAA) pick up their second victory in three tries.
Following an even first quarter in which NYU trailed 11-4, but came back to tie it at 14, the Violets scored just seven points in the second and went into the half down 10 at 31-21.
Kaitlyn Read, who finished with a game-high 25 points, led the Violets to a strong performance in the third quarter as the teams entered the fourth tied at 40-40. The junior guard had 12 points in the third.
"Game-after-game, Kaitlyn is a player who is always going to compete, and that level of competitiveness usually shows up in the box score," continued Hall-Gregory. "She makes her teammates better and they respond really well to that."Unfortunately, foul trouble played a factor all night for NYU and Emory outscored the Violets 25-19 in the final quarter to come away with the six-point win. Both teams shot very well from the foul line, but the Eagles had nearly twice as many opportunities at the charity stripe. The Violets were 11-of-13 (.846) as a team, while Emory was 21-of-25 (.840). NYU was called for 25 fouls -- both Read and
Riley Wurtz fouled out -- while the Eagles had 19.
"I was proud of the way we fought back in the second half and gave ourselves a chance to win despite our terrible first-half foul trouble," said Hall-Gregory. "We've got to stay more disciplined and adjust to the referees so we don't get into that sort of foul trouble and ask our role players to play such extended minutes."HIGHLIGHTS-
Megan Dawe (4-for-4 FTs) finished with 14 points and six rebounds.
- Read added five rebounds, two assists, a steal, and a block. She was also 6-of-7 from the line, with all of her free-throw attempts coming in her stellar third quarter.
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Drew Cabral played a career-high 27 minutes and registered six points, seven rebounds, three assists, one block, and one steal.
- Four Eagles scored in double-figures, led by Dumebi Egbuna's 17 points.
NYU will return to action on Sunday afternoon, February 14, in Rochester, NY, for a 2:00 pm tipoff against the #9/8 University of Rochester.
