Women’s Basketball Falls in Heartbreaking Fashion at No. 8 New York

(NEW YORK, N.Y.) – The Carnegie Mellon University women's basketball team traveled to No. 8 ranked New York University on Friday, January 29 and dropped a heartbreaker 75-74 in University Athletic Association (UAA) play. Carnegie Mellon is now 13-4, 2-4 while NYU moves to 16-1, 5-1.

Following a layup by junior Lisa Murphy (McLean, Va./McLean) with four minutes to play in the first period, the Tartans trailed 12-10.  NYU closed the quarter on a 7-2 run to lead 19-12.  Half of Carnegie Mellon's points came off the hands of senior Lindsay Poss (Poolesville, Md.), as she connected on two from behind the arc.
 
Poss started the second quarter with a layup before the Violets rattled off seven straight points to extend their lead to 26-14.  NYU continued to control the quarter and grabbed its largest lead of the half after scoring six straight points midway through the quarter.

The Tartans trailed 37-22 at the 4:25 mark, but the visitors closed the quarter on an 11-3 run to cut the deficit to 40-33 at the break.  The run started with a jumper by sophomore Njaire McKoy (Englewood Cliffs, N.J./Bergen County Technical), as four different Tartans scored during the stretch.  Poss led all scorers at the half with 12 points.

NYU started the third quarter by scoring 10 straight points over the first two minutes, but the Tartans responded with a 12-point run to cut the lead to 50-45 with 4:21 to play in the third.  Freshman Jenn Mayberger (Chesterfield, Mo./Cor Jesu Academy) ended the spurt with back-to-back three-pointers for Carnegie Mellon.   

Carnegie Mellon cut the lead to 58-56 with a three-pointer by senior Liza Otto (Glastonbury, Conn.) and a free throw from Murphy, but the Violets scored the last four points of the third quarter to lead 62-56.

The Tartans took their first lead since early in the first quarter when junior Jackie Hudepohl (Saratoga, Calif./Lynbrook (Colgate)) grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed foul shot and laid it in for a 73-72 advantage with 1:36 to play.

On the ensuing possession, NYU retook the lead as Maya Wasowicz converted the traditional three-point play to make the score 75-73.  The score stayed that way until six tenths of a second showed on the clock.  Hudepohl was fouled and sank the first free throw, but her second shot hit the back of the iron and fell to the floor.

Murphy and Hudepohl led the Tartans with 16 points each while Poss finished with 15 and Otto had 11.  The Tartans shot 45.3% from the floor while the Violets shot 42.2%.  Carnegie Mellon controlled the glass for the 15th time this season hauling down 43 rebounds to NYU's 30.  Murphy grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds to record her ninth double-double of the season.
 
The Violets were led by Amy Harioka's 18 points while Kaitlyn Read and Wasowicz each had 17.

Carnegie Mellon will conclude its four-game road trip on Sunday, January 31 with a 2:00 p.m. tip at Brandeis University.