The New York University women's basketball team, the defending NCAA Division III National Champions, continued their winning ways with an 80-39 victory over Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in an opening round game of The Scholar's Classic on Friday, November 8, at the John A. Paulson Center in Manhattan.
The Violets, following their 31-0 championship season, returned to the court and had little trouble besting the Engineers in both team's season openers.
NYU's stifling defense held its opponent to seven points in the first quarter. The Violets doubled-up the Engineers by halftime, 36-18, held MIT to 30.4 percent shooting (7-of-23), and forced 19 turnovers over the first 20 minutes.
It was much the same in the second half as the Violets scored the first 15 points of the third quarter and went on to lead by a game-high as many as 43 in the fourth.
MIT finished with 32 turnovers and was held to 25.5 percent shooting (14-of-55) by the Violets.
"We led with our defense, which has been our trademark the last couple of years," said Head Coach
Meg Barber. "We have a lot of new faces out there, and I think everyone did a good job finding chemistry with a much different look than we had last year."
Last season's NCAA Division III Player of the Year,
Natalie Bruns, showed no rust with 13 points, seven assists, six rebounds, three steals, and four blocks, adding to her program record for rejections (now at 241).
"Watching our performance today, you can really see the potential down the line," Bruns said. "I'm really excited to be out there with this group. It's going to be awesome."
Belle Pellecchia, the returning University Athletic Association (UAA) Defensive Player of the Year for an unprecedented three consecutive seasons, chipped in with 10 points and five assists.
Mary Kate Fahey contributed nine points as 16 different Violets made the scoring column.
"Everything just really worked well tonight," Barber added.
The host Violets continue play in The Scholar's Classic on Saturday when they face Rowan University at 3:00pm back at the Paulson Center. MIT plays Ithaca College to open the doubleheader at 1:00pm.
