Violets win close game in Cleveland

Stifling defense in the final minutes allowed the NYU women's basketball team to survive a thriller over Case Western Reserve University, 52-50 this past Sunday afternoon in Cleveland.

Trailing 50-48 with 6:21 remaining, NYU (13-7, 5-4 UAA), held the Spartans scoreless for the rest of the game, while senior Hailey Kimball converted the eventual game winning layup with 3:12 to play. From there, the Violets forced six missed shots, including a jumper from Case Western's Kristyn Atkins that rimmed out as time expired.

NYU had the chance to ice the game in the final minute but Kimball, the UAA's second-best free-throw shooter, missed two consecutive free throws with 47 seconds left and junior Chrissy Kilmurray missed the front end of a one-and-one with 27 seconds to go.

The Violets were just 7-17 from the line for the game, and although their poor free-throw shooting was rare, they were able to stay in the game by holding Case Western to only 30 percent field goal shooting.

Junior Emily Foshag led the Violets in scoring with 14 points while Kilmurray dominated inside, snaring 14 rebounds.
Senior Grace Carmen finished the weekend with 10 points in each contest. On Friday night at Carnegie Mellon, Carmen was one of three Violets in double figures.

As in Sunday's game, defense played a pivotal role against the Tartans. NYU forced 29 Carnegie Mellon turnovers and accumulated 16 steals.

"We were very active on and off the ball and were getting into passing lanes," head coach Stefano Trompeo said.

The Violets had a 17-point first-half lead, but the Tartans whittled it down to just five with eight minutes to go in the contest. Coming out of an NYU time-out, Foshag and Kimball hit consecutive threes to give the Violets their momentum back.

"That really turned it around," Trompeo said.

The NYU advantage never went below double-digits again, allowing the Violets to hang on and win.

The Violets have now won five of six games, making them one of the hottest teams in the UAA. The level of competition steps up considerably this weekend when the Violets host Chicago on Friday night at 6 p.m., before a family day match-up against Washington University on Sunday.