The New York University women's basketball team was defeated by Carnegie Mellon University 66-61 on Sunday, January 15, in a University Athletic Association (UAA) contest at the Sportsplex in Manhattan.

The Violets (10-4, 0-3 UAA) opened the game by scoring the first eight points and took a 12-point lead, 16-4, on Lindsey Oldshue's layup with 4:39 left in the first quarter.

The Tartans (13-1, 2-1), ranked #15 in the nation by D3hoops.com, pulled within one point on two occasions in the second quarter, but the Violets never relinquished its lead before taking a 33-28 advantage into halftime. 

Amy Harioka led all scorers at the break with 12 points, while Shaye McGoey added 10. 

Carnegie Mellon scored the first seven points of the third quarter and opened with a 12-2 run to take 40-35 lead. The Violets immediately responded by scoring the next six points to recapture the lead. Several ties and lead changes ensued before NYU took a 45-43 lead after three quarters.

The Violets increased their lead to five points, 50-45, on Harioka's jumper with 8:19 left in the game. 

The Tartans re-took the lead, 58-57, on Lisa Murphy's layup with 2:58 to play.

Harioka then hit a three-pointer, followed by a three-pointer by the Tartans' Jackie Hudepohl.

Then, trailing 64-61, NYU's attempt to tie the game fell short as Simone Jacques' three-pointer fell short with 19 seconds left. Hudepohl added two more free throws for the final margin. 

"They made a few more plays down the stretch than we did," said Head Coach Lauren Hall-Gregory. "But, we put ourselves in a position to win the game and we just have to take it as a learning experience.

"They have a great deal of experience. We have a lot of new players," Hall-Gregory continued. "I'm sure there will be other close game and we'll be on the good end of it."

NOTABLES:

- Harioka finished with team highs of 24 points, five assists and seven steals. The point total represented a career high, while the steals tied a career best.

- Kayla Patterson collected a career-high 16 rebounds.

- Hudepohl led the Tartans with 22 points.  

"Trust me, I want to win more than anybody," Hall-Gregory admitted. "But, the main goal is to get better everyday and I think we were certainly better today than we were on Friday."

The Violets return to action this Friday, January 20, when they travel to play Washington University in St. Louis. Tipoff for that UAA contest is set for 6pm central time.