#5 NYU HOLDS ON FOR 59-54 WIN OVER WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

BOSTON, Mass. – Senior forward Megan Dawe (Santa Clarita, Calif.) and the junior guard combo of Kaitlyn Read (University Park, Texas) and Amy Harioka (Danville, Calif.) combined to score 39 points to power the New York University women's basketball team over Emmanuel College, 59-54, Saturday afternoon at the Jean Yawkey Center Gymnasium. The Violets, who received 514 points in the most recent D3Hoops.com national poll for an overall ranking of No. 5, improve to 7-0 on the year while the loss drops the Saints to 5-4 with all four defeats coming at the hands of nationally ranked opponents.

Emmanuel played well in the opening two quarters, jumping out to a 30-27 halftime lead behind eight points apiece from senior forward Sarah Higgins (Groveland, Mass.) and junior forward Jen Chalk (Horseheads, N.Y.). The Saints held the lead despite the Violets shooting 48.0 percent from the field in the stanza (12-for-25).

NYU erased the lead and took control of the action in the third quarter, coming out of the intermission with a 10-0 run to take a 37-30 lead, fueled by four points from the charity stripe by Read. The Violets continued to add to their advantage and a layup at the buzzer by Dawe gave NYU its largest lead of the afternoon at 46-35 heading into the final quarter. NYU outscored the Saints 19-5 in the quarter, holding Emmanuel to a dismal 2-for-13 shooting performance from the floor in the action.

The Saints made some noise in the fourth quarter to keep things close as a Higgins layup in transition cut the lead to 50-46 with just over six minutes to play. The two possession lead continued for the Violets throughout the quarter until Harioka drained a clutch three-pointer with 2:29 remaining to bump the NYU lead to 54-47.

With under a minute to play and the Violets holding the seven point advantage (56-49), Chalk hit a baseline jumper to make it 56-51 with 47 seconds left in regulation. On the next possession, a Saints foul paid off as the Violets missed both attempted from the line to give Emmanuel the ball back with 38 seconds to play down by five. Freshman shooting guard Madison McLaughlin (Westerly, R.I.) knocked down her third triple of the afternoon to cut the lead to a basket at 56-54 with 33 tics left on the clock.

Following a 30-second timeout by the Saints, the Violets couldn't handle the Emmanuel pressure on the inbound and turned the ball over giving the hosts a chance to tie the game. On the ensuing possession, the hosts panicked and were not able to get a shot off before turning the ball back over the NYU with 12 seconds to play. NYU put the game away with three free throws down the stretch included a pair by senior Maya Wasowicz (New York, N.Y.) en route to the 59-54 win.

Higgins led all scorers with 16 points while also grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds for her third career double-double. The senior also tallied eight assists and seven steals. Chalk finished with 14 points and seven rebounds while McLaughlin added a season-high 12 points.

Dawe finished the afternoon with a team-high 14 points for NYU in 23 minutes of action while Read and Harioka scored 13 and 12 points, respectively.

Prior to the start of the contest, the Emmanuel College Athletic Department honored Head Coach Andy Yosinoff for his career milestone of coaching 1,000 career games which he accomplished on Nov. 17 at Eastern Connecticut State University. Yosinoff was presented a commemorative basketball by Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Patricia Rissmeyer and Director of Athletics & Recreation Alexis Mastronardi. Yosinoff was joined on the court by over 20 of his former players as well as his father, Louis Yosinoff, for the ceremony in which he was also honored with a banner that will hang from the walls of the Jean Yawkey Center gymnasium.

Next up, the Saints will host Pine Manor College on Tuesday, December 8 at 5:30 PM while the Violets are idle until December 30 when they head to Brooklyn, N.Y. to take on Brooklyn College at 2:00 PM.