NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Yeshiva University women's basketball team opened the 2017-18 season with a victory over The King's College, 59-36, at the ARC Arena on Thursday evening. The Maccabees now bump their record to 1-0, while the Lions fall to 0-1.

"I am very proud of the players for their strong effort," Yeshiva University head coach Michael Alon said. "It's a great way to start the season."

Yeshiva led from wire-to-wire, never trailing at any point in the game. Senior forward Michal Alge and freshman forward Celia Cohen each produced double-doubles, with the former scoring a game-high 16 points and grabbing 15 rebounds, while the latter produced 11 points with 12 boards. Junior guard Nicole Bick scored 15 points, while freshman forward Lindsay Brandwein led all players with 17 rebounds and five assists.

The Maccabees came storming out of the gate, scoring 16 of the game's first 19 points. During that run, sophomore guard Laura Betesh drained a three-point field goal to put YU up 9-2, with 6:33 remaining in the opening quarter. A made free throw by Bick capped off YU's 16-3 run with 3:14 left in the period. The quarter would end with Yeshiva up 18-6.

The Macs went on a 10-2 run to open the second stanza, and take a commanding 28-8 advantage. Yeshiva's defense held The King's College scoreless for 5:07 at one point in that stretch. Both teams went into the half with the score 29-10 in favor of YU.

In the third period, Alge dished the ball to freshman guard Leah Shulman, who drained a wide-open 3-point shot to make it 35-15 in favor of the visiting team. Later in the quarter, Alge laid the ball up and in, while being fouled. She nailed a free throw to complete the three-point play and put her team up 38-16 with 4:05 remaining in the period. Alge would then add a field goal and then a pair of free throws to give the Maccabees their largest lead of the evening at the time, 42-16. That would be the score at the end of three quarters of play.

Yeshiva got off to a strong start in the fourth quarter. Junior guard Penny Rabin forced a steal and passed the ball to Alge, who laid it up and in to give YU a commanding 48-16 advantage. Bick produced a layup of her own to equal Yeshiva's largest lead of the game, at 50-18, with 5:11 left to play. The King's College would inch closer in the final few minutes of the game, but it would not be enough as Yeshiva went on to earn the win, 59-36.

For the game, Betesh scored five points with two rebounds, just as many assists, and forced two steals. Alge had two assists, forced three steals, and blocked one shot. Bick grabbed four boards, dished out an assist, and forced a steal. Brandwein scored two points and chipped in on defense with three steals. Shulman scored five points with two steals, while freshman guard Chana Boltax had three points and just as many rebounds. Freshman guard Adina Rosenberg produced two points and a rebound, while Rabin grabbed three rebounds, forced two steals, and dished out an assist. Freshman forward Nechama Dembitzer brought down a board.

Yeshiva will compete in the Emmanuel College Tip-Off Classic this weekend, out in Boston, Mass. The Maccabees will play the host Saints in the first round on Saturday, at the Jean Yawkey Center, beginning at 6:30 p.m.  Yeshiva will play again on Sunday. The time and opponent are to be determined.