New York, N.Y., Feb. 16, 2014 – The No. 6-ranked Washington University in St. Louis women's basketball team held No. 22 New York University to a season-low 46 points as the Bears earned a 73-46 win over the Violets in University Athletic Association (UAA) play Sunday afternoon.
Junior forward Melissa Gilkey scored six of the Bears' first 10 points of the game and her basket gave Washington U. a 10-4 lead with 15:38 left in the first half. NYU scored the next four points to make it 10-8, but the Bears' defense limited the Violets to just one field goal over the next 12 minutes as Washington U. went on a 21-6 run to build a 31-14 lead with 2:54 left in the first half. The Violets made a second-chance three-pointer to get to within 31-17, but senior guard Lucy Montgomery made back-to-back three-pointers, including one just before the halftime buzzer, to give the Bears a 37-19 lead at halftime.
NYU trimmed the Bears' lead to 37-23 in the opening minute of the second half, but Washington U. went on a 10-1 run to take a 47-24 lead on a jumper by junior guard Alyssa Johanson with 13:32 remaining in the game. After a three-pointer by the Violets, Montgomery hit her third three of the game and senior forward Kristin Anda made a pair of free throws to push the lead to 52-27 with 11:40 to play. NYU went on a 6-0 run to get to within 19, but Washington U. held the Violets without a field goal over the next 6:30 as the Bears pushed their lead to 69-38 on a three-point play by Johanson with 4:20 left in the game.
Washington U. shot 47.5 percent (29-61) from the field in the game, including 8-of-16 from three-point range. The Bears limited NYU to 26.9 percent (14-52) shooting from the field, and 5-of-21 from three-point range. Washington U. also dominated the boards, finishing with a 47-28 rebounding advantage and a 23-7 advantage in second-chance points.
Gilkey recorded her seventh double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while also adding two blocked shots and two steals. Anda also finished with 13 points to lead the Bears, and had five rebounds, including four on the offensive glass. Johanson added 11 points and a career-high eight rebounds off the bench, while junior guard Maddy Scheppers also got into double figures with 10 points and five rebounds. Montgomery tallied nine points on 3-of-4 shooting from three-point range, while sophomore guard Jordan Thompson had six points and a season-high nine assists for the Bears.
Washington U. improved to 20-2 overall and 10-1 in the UAA, while NYU dropped to 18-4 overall and 7-4 in conference play. The Bears hold a two-game lead in the UAA standings over the University of Chicago (14-8, 8-3 UAA) with three games remaining. Washington U. returns to St. Louis to host its final two regular-season home games Friday, Feb. 21 and Sunday, Feb. 23. The Bears take on Case Western Reserve University at 6 p.m. Friday, before hosting Carnegie Mellon University on senior day at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Bear Notebook: Washington U. leads the all-time series against NYU 39-16 … It marks the 24th time in head coach Nancy Fahey's 28 seasons that Washington University has recorded at least 20 wins … The Bears improved to 18-0 this season when leading at halftime … Washington U. has outrebounded 19 of 22 opponents this season and is 18-1 in those games … NYU entered the game as the top team in the UAA with a +10.3 rebounding margin this season … Gilkey passed Jaimie McFarlin (2005-10) for 12th on WUSTL's career scoring list, bringing her total to 1,079.