The New York University women's basketball team defeated Case Western Reserve University 83-72 on Friday, February 8, in a University Athletic Association (UAA) game at the Sportsplex in Manhattan.

The Violets (12-8, 4-6) had lost to the Spartans (12-9, 4-6) by 10 points, 72-62, on January 11 in Cleveland, OH. 

"We didn't play hard enough or well enough to beat them last month, but today was a completely different story. We battled from start to finish," said Head Coach Meg Barber.   
 
Case Western Reserve did take a pair of five-point leads early in the contest on Friday. But, it was short-lived.

Trailing 9-4, NYU went on an 11-2 run and never trailed again.

The Violets were ahead 24-17 after the first quarter and 32-28 at halftime. Then, following Janean Cuffee's successful heave from beyond half court just before the buzzer, NYU took a 63-54 lead after three quarters.  

Lauren Koyama's three-pointer with 8:39 remaining in the game gave the Violets their biggest lead of the evening, 68-54. The Spartans were only able to get within eight points the rest of the way.

Cuffee finished with a game-high 24 points. She added five assists, four rebounds, three steals, and two blocks while playing every minute for the fifth time in NYU's last seven games.

"She's unbelievably tough. She plays hard on both ends," Barber explained. "It's not just her scoring. She had a tough assignment guarding (Hillary) Hellmann and battled her for 40 minutes." 

Katie Foos contributed 20 points and Lauren Koyama added 16 as the Violets connected on 56.9 percent (29-of-51) of their shots in the game and 48.3 percent (14-of-29) from downtown.

Annie Barrett registered an unconventional double-double with 10 assists and 10 rebounds.

"We shot the ball well tonight because Annie got us into sets and found open shooters," Barber revealed. 

Hellmann led Case Western Reserve with 19 points, but was held to 8-of-23 shooting from the field.

"Total team effort tonight," Barber said. "The results prove that. Now, we just have to continue to play at this level as we head down the stretch."

The Violets return to action on Sunday, February 10, and host Carnegie Mellon University in another UAA contest. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00pm at the Sportsplex.