NEW YORK – The Johns Hopkins women's basketball team took on host and second-ranked NYU on Day 2 of the Scholars Classic Saturday afternoon, falling 72-52 to the Violets. The Jays led the game at halftime 37-35, but a second-half surge from NYU proved too much in Hopkins' first loss of the season.
 
Greta Miller, Elisabeth Peebles and Macie Feldman shared the team-lead at 12 points apiece for the Jays, with Miller tallying team highs in rebounds (9) and assists (4). It was a tale of two halves, however, as after shooting an impressive 41% from the field and 46% from three in the first two quarters, Hopkins ended the game shooting just 27.5% while the Violets shot 45.8% from the field. NYU held a 60-34 advantage on the glass, doubling up the Jays on the defensive end (44-22), and a 44-18 edge in points in the paint.
 
Saturday's finale started as a tightly contested game, with the Violets holding a slight 9-7 lead before three straight deep balls by Peebles, Kara Milliken and Miller shot Hopkins ahead 16-9 — the Jays were lights out in the opening quarter, shooting 5-9 from 3-point land in the frame. A floater from Feldman extended the Jays' lead to nine before NYU began to chip away at the lead, with a pair of free throws from Megan Bauman making it a 22-17 game after one.
 
Miller opened the second quarter with a jumper to extend Hopkins' advantage back to seven, with made shots from Kendall Dunham and Feldman keeping it a three-possession game three minutes in. The Violets once again made a push, tying the game at 28 and eventually taking a 32-20 lead, but after trading buckets, another three from Miller — marking her first collegiate game with multiple threes — with eight seconds on the clock gave Hopkins back a 37-35 lead heading into the break.
 
After NYU opened the second half with a quick 3-0 run to retake the lead, Peebles had the response with her third 3-pointer of the night to put the Jays up 40-38. From there, however, a Violets layup from Morgan Morrison kick started a 10-0 run that gave NYU their biggest lead of the night. Hopkins tried to chip away, with a jumper from Michaela O'Neil cutting the lead to six, but the Violets continued to pull away, growing their lead to 61-45 after the third.
 
Points were hard to come by in a fourth quarter in which the sides combined for just 18 points, but it was NYU doing damage from the free throw line to extend their lead to 20 en route to handing Hopkins the 72-52 defeat.
 
The Jays return to the court Tuesday, Nov. 14 when they take on Marymount in their home-opener, with tipoff set for 7 p.m.