March 11, 2023.
March 19, 2026.
Those are the dates of the last two losses suffered by the New York University women's basketball team. In-between: 91 consecutive victories.
It had to end sometime, and that sometime was a 60-52 loss to the University of Scranton in the NCAA Division III Final Four on Thursday, March 19., in Salem, VA.
The two-time defending National Champions (29-1) fell behind early and never caught up to the unbeaten Royals (32-0).
"Give Scranton credit," said Head Coach
Meg Barber. "They got out from the jump and we played from behind, which is a bit unusual for us. But, I thought we showed a lot of resilience and really hung in for four solid quarters."
Caroline Peper's three-pointer opened the scoring, but nine straight points by the Royals quickly gave them the advantage.
Brooke Batchelor ended the streak with a bucket, but an 8-0 Scranton run gave them a 17-5 lead after the first quarter.
Another Peper three opened the second quarter, but the Violets fell behind by a game-high 16 points, 29-13.
Yasmene Clark's layup followed, and Batchelor hit another three right before the buzzer and NYU was within 30-18 at halftime.
The Violets shot 25 percent from the field (7-of-28) over the first 20 minutes. The Royals only shot 35.5 percent (11-of-31), but made 40 percent (4-of-10) from three-point range.
Clark's steal and layup opened the third quarter.
NYU continued to chip away at the lead, and
Olivia Lagao's three-pointer made it a 31-28 game with 5:45 left in the quarter.
Peper's and-one made it 36-31 with 3:56 left, but the Royals went on an 11-3 streak to end the quarter ahead 47-34.
Lagao opened the final quarter with another three, but Scranton rebounded to take a 13-point lead at 52-39.
However, the Violets did not quit. With only 45 seconds left in the game, Lagao's final three-pointer got NYU within 56-52.
That was as close as they got, with Scranton hitting free throws down the stretch to keep their undefeated record intact and dealing NYU its first loss in three years.
"It's never been about the scoreboard for this group," Barber explained. "It was a win for this team in terms of how they showed the NYU Community and our fans what we're made of."
Peper finished her NYU career with a game-high 19 points, claiming the #9 spot on the Violets' all-time scoring list (1,451). .
"It's going to be a real tough thing trying to fill the shoes of
Caroline Peper," Barber added. "She's really a one of one."
The freshman Lagao scored 14 points, connecting on 4-of-9 from three-point range.
Clark grabbed a team-high 15 rebounds.
"This team means the world to me. They are everything," Peper said. "I couldn't have picked a better team to go out with. It's such a fun group and I'd do anything for them and anything to play another game with them."
That won't be possible. But, she and the team did the impossible...setting a Division III record and surpassing every NCAA winning streak record other than UConn's 111 from 2014-17.
ISeasons and a streak to remember....
