The New York University women's basketball entered the 2024 NCAA Division III Championship as the tournament's overall #1 seed.

And they played like it.

Following a slow start, the 26-0 Violets won their opening round game 78-51 over Millsaps College on Friday, March 1, in Center Valley, PA.

It took almost three minutes for either team to score, but Natalie Bruns broke the ice with a drive and Erica Miller followed with a three-pointer to give NYU a 5-0 lead.

The Violets led the rest of the way.

"Maybe a little bit of early jitters playing in a new gym," Bruns said. "We just needed to get our feet under us. And, they played a different style than we're used to in the UAA. Just took a couple of trips up and down, but then we got going."

Another Miller trey put NYU up by nine en route a 20-14 lead after the first quarter.

The Violets extended their advantage to 17 points, 41-24, at halftime following Belle Pellecchia's layup in the final minute.    

Morgan Morrison led NYU with 10 points at the break, with Caroline Peper adding nine.

The Violets had all they could handle with Millsaps' Garin Freedman, who scored 16 in the first half.

NYU burst out of the gate in the second half, scoring the first eight points, as Morrison (bucket), Bruns (two FTs), Megan Bauman (short jumper), and Bruns' layup accounted for the run.

"I thought we showed a lot of poise and came out in the second half ready to go on both ends of the court," said Head Coach Meg Barber.

The lead grew to 30 points, 68-38, on Mary Kate Fahey's layup which ended the third-quarter scoring.  

The Violets increased their lead to as many as 31 points in the final quarter. 

No NYU player was on the court for more than 21 minutes, as the reserves played most of the second half.

"It was nice to see so many players rotated in," Barber added. "We have so much value in our depth and we got a lot of great performances off our bench tonight."

Peper led the way with 17 points.

"I thought it came down to reading the defense well," Peper explained. "It wasn't just me. We got some great assists tonight and that was why we performed so well offensively." 

Morrison had 13 and seven rebounds, and Bruns finished with a near double-double of 10 points and nine rebounds.

Maria Alvardo played a career-high 11 minutes off the bench, totaling career bests of seven rebounds and four assists. 

Bauman and Bruns also had four assists.

Pellecchia scored six points and now has 998 in her NYU career.

Freeman led all scorers with 23 points.

Postgame Press Conference:



The Violets will now face host DeSales University on Saturday at 7:00pm.