BRONXVILLE, N.Y. – The Yeshiva University women's basketball team earned a hard-fought Skyline Conference victory over Sarah Lawrence College, 48-43, at the Campbell Sports Center on Thursday evening. Yeshiva was the official home team for the contest. The Maccabees have earned their fourth victory of the season (4-11, 2-7 Skyline) which already surpasses last year's total. The Gryphons fall to 1-14 overall, and 0-10 in Skyline play.

Junior guard Nicole Bick led the Maccabees in scoring with 14 points, while grabbing five rebounds, and forcing four steals. Senior forward Michal Alge just missed a double-double, producing nine points and bringing down a game-high 20 boards. Freshman forward Celia Cohen had eight points with 14 rebounds to go along with four steals.

Just under five minutes into the contest, Bick drained a three-point field goal to give YU an early 9-4 advantage. The Gryphons would still hang around, as Taryn Penna converted a layup on a fast break to cut the Macs' lead to 11-8, with 25 seconds to go. That would be the score at the end of the opening period.

After Sarah Lawrence tied the game, 13-13, Yeshiva answered with eight straight points, in a span of 2:45, to take a commanding 21-13 advantage. Freshman guard Chana Boltax scored seven of those eight unanswered points by nailing a 3-point field goal in between two pairs of free throws.  The Gryphons battled back to pull within five, as both teams went into the intermission with the score 23-18 in favor of YU.

Sarah Lawrence managed to narrow the Macs' lead to three in the third quarter, but Cohen took over and scored the game's next six points to extend Yeshiva's lead to 31-22, with 57 ticks left in the period. Alexa Zartman-Ball hit a shot from the charity stripe to end YU's run and pull the Gryphons to within eight, before the end of the quarter.

The Maccabees stormed out of the gate in the fourth, scoring seven unanswered points. Highlighted in that run was sophomore guard Laura Betesh bringing down a defensive carom and feeding the ball to Bick, who laid it up and in off a fast break to pad YU's lead. With 6:25 remaining in regulation time, freshman forward Lindsay Brandwein received the ball from Bick and successfully converted a layup to give the Maccabees their largest lead of the game, 38-23. Sarah Lawrence would slowly chip away at the deficit, but it would not be enough. Alge drilled a shot from the charity stripe with 11 seconds to go to clinch the Skyline win for Yeshiva, 48-43.

For the game, Yeshiva had the edge in fast break points, 12-4, and outscored Sarah Lawrence in the paint, 22-14. Brandwein scored eight points with four rebounds and three steals, while Betesh dished out a game-high five assists and forced four steals. Junior guard Penny Rabin grabbed two boards, while freshman guard Leah Shulman brought down one.

For the Gryphons, Penna had a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds. Ruth Doberenz added 14 points, while Emmamazy Prior brought down 11 caroms.

Yeshiva will be back in action on Sunday, for a Skyline Conference contest at Farmingdale State. Tip-off is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.