New York, N.Y., Feb. 15, 2013 – The No. 14-ranked Washington University in St. Louis women's basketball team was unable to overcome the hot second-half shooting of New York University as the Bears suffered a 67-59 loss to the Violets in University Athletic Association (UAA) action Friday night in New York.
Washington U. was limited to 34.3 percent (24-of-70) field-goal shooting in the game, including 11-of-38 (28.9 percent) in the second half. Meanwhile the Violets shot 24-of-49 (49 percent) from the field in the game, including 13-of-20 (65 percent) in the second half. NYU also scored 14 of its second-half points at the foul line, finishing 14-of-24 all in the second half, while the Bears were 6-of-12 at the free-throw line in the game. Washington U. finished with a 41-36 rebounding advantage.
Sophomore guard Maddy Scheppers was the lone Washington U. player in double figures, finishing with 14 points and six rebounds. Sophomore forward Melissa Gilkey added nine points, four rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots. With the two blocks, Gilkey moved into a tie for 10th on Washington U.'s all-time top-10 career list with 59 career blocks. Sophomore guard Alyssa Johanson finished with eight points, all in the second half, and six rebounds, while junior forward Jordan Rettig added seven points and a team-high seven rebounds.
Washington U. built a 13-5 lead in the opening seven minutes of the game on 6-of-12 shooting from the field, including a combined eight points by Gilkey and Rettig. The Violets battled back to cut the lead to 19-16 on a fast-break layup that forced a Washington U. timeout with 7:05 left in the half. After the timeout, the Bears went on a 12-2 run over the next five minutes to take their largest lead of the half (31-18) with 2:32 to play. NYU scored seven of the final nine points of the half to cut the Bears' lead to 33-25 at halftime.
NYU opened the second half with a 10-2 run in the first 5:02 of the second half to tie the score at 35-35. After the Bears started the half 1-of-7 from the field, Johanson hit a baseline jumper to give Washington U. the lead back, 37-35. The teams traded leads before a basket by Gilkey and a baseline jumper by Johanson gave the Bears a 44-42 lead. The Violets answered with a 9-0 run over the next 4:20 to take a 51-44 lead with 5:33 left in the game.
After NYU stretched its lead to nine (55-46) with 3:39 to play, Washington U. put together six-straight points, including a transition three-pointer by freshman guard Jordan Thompson to cut the deficit to 55-52 and force a Violet timeout with 2:12 on the clock. After the timeout, NYU went on another 9-0 run, including five free throws, to push its lead to 64-52 with less than a minute remaining. Scheppers scored the last seven points of the game for the Bears, but Washington U. was unable to overcome the deficit.
Washington University (18-5, 8-4 UAA) concludes its regular-season road schedule at 1 p.m. (ET) Sunday, Feb. 17, when the Bears travel to Waltham, Mass., to take on Brandeis University. Brandeis (9-14, 3-9 UAA) earned a 68-50 win over the University of Chicago Friday night.
Bear Notebook: Washington U. leads the all-time series against NYU, 37-16, and had won the previous 12 meetings in the series … Washington U. has a conference-best record of 305-50 in 26 seasons of UAA play, while New York U. is second with 227 conference wins … New York entered the game with an eight-game losing streak … The Bears have outrebounded 20 of their 23 opponents this season … It marked the first time Washington U. has lost back-to-back games since Dec. 6, 2008.