The New York University women's basketball team moved just one away from tying the NCAA Division III all-time record for consecutive victories following its nailbiting 58-57 win over Carnegie Mellon University on Sunday, February 1, at the John A. Paulson Center in Manhattan.
The nation's top-ranked squad has now won 80 consecutive games, one shy of the record 81 set by fellow University Athletic Association (UAA) school Washington University in St. Louis from 1998-2001.
This one was the toughest of the 80...and they needed all of
Brooke Batchelor's career-high 28 points.
"I'm so incredibly proud, especially of our young players," said Head Coach
Meg Barber. "
Brooke Batchelor was all over the place. So, I'm just really, really happy that we were able to pull it out and had great crowd supporting us down the stretch. You could really feel the energy in this gym. It's been a while since we've been in a close one, so it was nice to know what that feels like again."
The Violets (18-0, 7-0), who hadn't won a game by less than 13 points this season, led 17-13 after the first quarter and scored the first six points of the second to take its only double-digit lead, 23-13.
However, the Tartans (11-6, 3-3) never went away. They immediately went on an 11-0 run to take a 24-23 lead.
NYU led 28-25 at halftime and boosted its advantage to eight, 44-36, following Batchelor's three-pointer with 1:52 remaining in the third quarter.
Carnegie Mellon came all the way back and took a 49-48 lead with with 7:36 left in the game.
Two ties ensued before
Caroline Peper's three-pointer gave NYU a 56-53 lead with just under two minutes remaining. She then made two free throws at 1:02 to put NYU ahead 58-54.
Nicole Nimko's three-pointer pulled the Tartans within one with 45 ticks left.
But after NYU's scoreless possession,
Caitlin Kenney tied up Carnegie Mellon's Aleena Dinker with 1.5 left on the game clock.
The possession arrow was in NYU's favor and the streak lived on.
"We knew Carnegie would give us their best," Peper said. "On that last possession our defense worked hard and Caitlin made a great play."
Batchelor's career-best performance came on 12-of-19 shooting from the field, 2-of-4 from long range and 2-of-2 from the foul line.
Peper added 13 points and game highs of six assists and four steals.
Yasmene Clark grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds for the Violets.
Timko finished with 27 points and nine rebounds for the Tartans.
The Violets return to action this Friday, February 6, when they face Case Western Resrve University in Cleveland, OH. NYU's attempt to tie the all-time Division III consecutive wins record is scheduled to tip-off at 7:30pm.
