NEW YORK, N.Y. – Despite a near double-double for graduate Jessica Brooks, the RV Washington University in St. Louis women's basketball team dropped a road UAA contest to No. 1 NYU on Sunday afternoon in the Big Apple at the Paulson Center.
Brooks finished with 16 points and nine rebounds to lead WashU and was one of four Bears in double figures; the list included sophomores Sidney Rogers (12), Lexy Harris (12), and Alyssa Hughes (10).
The Bears, who ranked third in Div. III coming into the weekend in rebound margin got back on track in rebounding against the Violets, out grabbing the boards 42-27. This helped lead to a 12-5 difference in second chance points, in favor of WashU.
A layup by Brooks at 6:45 in the first quarter saw the Bears keeping it close early with NYU, 6-3. A 6-0 by the home team over the next two and a half minutes saw the gap widen. However, a basket from Rogers and a three by junior Jordan Rich at 3:23 cut the lead back down to four, 12-8.
Harris hit a jumper to break up a scoring run by the Violets, who led 22-10 with 19 seconds left in the quarter. A last second layup by Harris cut the lead back down to 10 as the teams headed to the second quarter.
Both WashU and NYU went on to trade small runs in a low scoring second period. The only points scored in the first five minutes of the quarter was a pair of free throws by the Violets. The Bears got on the board with a jumper by Brooks at 5:08 on the clock before a 7-0 stretch by NYU gave the home team a 31-14 lead at 3:07.
Hughes answered with a three at 1:50 and Harris hit a pair of free throws at 1:06 to bring the lead down to just 12. The teams exchanged layups in the last minute of the half that saw the Violets take a 33-21 lead into the locker room break.
The second half got started with a 13-0 run by NYU. Trailing 46-21, Rogers started a 7-2 run by the Bears at 6:19 with a three pointer before Hughes hit two free throws and Harris hit a layup at 5:32, seeing the Violets' lead dwindle down to 20 at 5:32.
After some free throws by NYU, Brooks started and capped a 12-2 run by WashU at 4:04 and 0:51, bringing the lead down to just 12, 52-40. Back-to-back threes by the Violets in the last minute of the quarter saw the lead move back to 18 at 58-40 as the teams headed into the fourth quarter.
NYU began the final 10 minutes slowly expanding their lead to as many as 26 with 2:14 left in the game. Not going away, the Bears scored the final six points of the contest with Rogers, Hughes, and first-year Emilee Travnicek all scoring. However, it was not enough as the Violets swept the season series with the 77-58 win.
WashU remains on the road next weekend when they travel to Case Western Reserve and Carnegie Mellon. The Bears take on the Spartans on Friday, Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m. ET before visiting Tartans on Sunday, Feb. 16 for a 12 p.m. ET showdown in Pittsburgh.
