Women’s Basketball Falls Short at #24 New York After Second Half Comeback

(NEW YOR, N.Y.) – The Carnegie Mellon University women's basketball team traveled to the Big Apple for a University Athletic Association (UAA) contest Friday, February 7, with the 24th-ranked Violets of New York University.  With 13.6 seconds remaining in the contest, NYU's Maya Wasowicz's three-pointer lifted the home team to an 85-81 victory. The Tartans are now 11-8, 2-6 while the Violets move to 17-2, 6-2.

Carnegie Mellon freshman Lisa Murphy (McLean, Va./McLean) capped off a 9-2 run for the Tartans with two traditional three-point plays on back-to-back trips down the court to give the visitors a 14-12 lead with 13 minutes to play in the first half.

Over the next eight minutes, NYU used an 18-4 run to grab a 30-18 lead.  The Violets then held a 12-point lead, 40-28, with 2:08 left in the first frame before Carnegie Mellon closed the half on a 7-0 run to head into the break trailing 40-35.  Tartan junior Gabrielle West (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) scored the last five points while Murphy started the run with two from the charity stripe.

Carnegie Mellon shot 48% from the floor in the first half to NYU's 39%, while Murphy was a perfect 5-of-5 and led all scorers with 14 points.  Kaitlyn Read led the Violets after 20 minutes of play with 12 points while converting 3-of-4 from behind the arc.

New York started the second half on a 17-5 run to grab a 57-40 lead with 15:37 to play in regulation.  With NYU leading 67-52 with just over 10 minutes to play, Carnegie Mellon went on another scamper, this time the run was 16-2 and pulled the Tartans to within one at 69-68 with 4:32 to play in the second half.

The Tartans continued their hot streak and took a 74-71 lead on back-to-back three-pointers by West with 3:24 remaining. Carnegie Mellon led 81-80 following a made foul shot by sophomore Liza Otto (Glastonbury, Conn.), but on the next possession down the court it was Wasowicz's trey that lifted the Violets to victory.

Carnegie Mellon ended the game shooting 47% from the floor to NYU's 43%, but the Violets held the edge on the glass 38-37. West led the Tartans with 23 points as Murphy ended the game with 22 on 8-of-9 shooting. Otto also topped double figures with 15 points.  Senior Jacquie Shaw (Portland, Ore./Grant)  led the Tartans on the boards with a season-high nine.

Read led NYU with 18 points while Melissa Peng had 15 and Wasowicz finished with 14.

Carnegie Mellon now heads to Brandeis University where they will face the Judges on Sunday, February 9 at 2:00 p.m.