The New York University women's basketball team held off visiting University of Rochester 66-65 in University Athletic Association (UAA) action on Friday, February 1, at the Sportsplex in Manhattan.

A week after letting a halftime lead slip away and falling on the road to the Yellowjackets (8-11, 2-6 UAA), this time it was NYU (11-7, 3-5 UAA) which overcame a halftime deficit and was able to hold on to a late lead to win by one and improve to 7-1 at home this season.

Janean Cuffee's layup with two minutes remaining gave the Violets a five-point advantage and from there they relied on their defense to win the game.

Julianna Okoniewski answered Cuffee's bucket with a pair of free throws and Tessa Ludwick scored on a layup with 26 seconds left to get the visitors with one point.

NYU missed a pair of free throws with 10 seconds to play and Ludwick raced down the court and took a three-pointer which rimmed out. The Yellowjackets grabbed the offensive rebound, but were unable to get another look before the clock ran out.

The teams were tied 18-18 after one quarter and Rochester led 38-34 at halftime. The Yellowjackets extended their lead to a game-high 10 points midway through the third before Cuffee took the game over and helped lead NYU to the comeback win. 

Cuffee finished with a game-high 19 points, 15 of which came after halftime. Lauren Koyama came off the bench to score 14 for the Violets, while Shaye McGoey added eight, also off the bench. 

Okoniewski led Rochester with 17 points and was joined in double figures by Ludwick, who finished with 16. Okoniewski was one of three Yellowjackets to finish with 10+ rebounds as the visitors out-rebounded NYU 51-31. 

A week after finishing without a made three-pointer in a loss to Rochester, the Violets drained 7-of-17 (41.2%) from beyond the arc, led by Koyama, who was 4-of-7 from deep.

The Violets will look to make it two in a row on Sunday when they host Emory University back at the Sportsplex, Tip-off is slated for 2pm.