Last Friday, the New York University Women's Basketball Team suffered its first loss of the season. 

This Friday, the Violets exacted revenge.

After trailing 2-0, NYU scored the next 13 points and this one was no contest as the Violets went on to beat visiting University of Rochester 85-63 in Brooklyn, NY, on February 4. 

Still smarting from its 57-53 loss on January 28 at Rochester, NYU was not to be denied on Friday, grabbing a first-half lead of 21 points en route to defending its perch atop the University Athletic Association (UAA) standings.    

The Violets, currently ranked #9 in the nation by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and #10 by D3hoops.com, are now 16-1 this season and 7-1 in the UAA.

Natalie Bruns led the Violets with a career-high 22 points, shooting 9-of-15 from the field, including 4-of-5 from three-point range.  

"We were hungry tonight," Bruns said. "The loss to Rochester was a real bump in the road for us. We are a young team, but with a lot of maturity. We worked all week in practice with that loss in mind and we used it as motivation."  

The Violets took a 41-20 lead on Jenny Walker's jumper with 2:42 remaining in the second quarter. 

"Natalie has already had a couple of breakout games so far, said Head Coach Meg Barber. "But, tonight was like the next level for her and we were able to see the player she's going to be in this league."

After leading 43-26 at halftime, NYU had its lead shaved to just five points as the Yellowjackets (12-7, 4-4) pulled to within 49-44.

The Violets stalled the comeback and took a 59-50 lead after three quarters. 

Rochester registered the first bucket of the final quarter, but NYU scored seven straight points and the lead never dipped under double-digits the rest of the way. 

Honor Culpepper's two foul shots with eight seconds left capped the 22-point victory.

"We know in the UAA that no lead is safe and this is exactly what they did last week," Barber explained. "But, this week we didn't let them hang around and we were able to extend our lead in the the fourth quarter and put them away." 

STATS RIGHT:

- Walker and Erica Miller each contributed 12 points. Walker also grabbed a game-high seven rebounds.

- Four Violets (Walker, Brooklyn Shelton, Belle Pellecchia, Jordan Janowski) had three assists.

- NYU's defense forced 23 Rochester turnovers.  

The Violets return to action this Sunday, February 6, when they host Emory University. Tipoff at St. Francis College in Brooklyn is set for 2:00pm.