Women's basketball loses to NYU, drop third straight

The women’s basketball team lost at New York University by a score of 80-68 on Sunday afternoon. The loss was the third straight for the Yellowjackets, who earlier this season had attained the top ranking for the first time in history.Senior Erika Smith scored a game-high 22 points for the Yellowjackets, but 15 of those points came in the first half. Junior Kelly Wescott added 14 points and nine rebounds before fouling out late in the game. Transfer sophomore Jessie Graham and freshman Emily Lyons scored nine apiece. Senior point guard Tara Carrozza scored seven, including five in the closing minutes as the Yellowjackets attempted to play their way back into the game.Trailing 31-23 with 5:50 left in the opening stanza, the Violets finished the half on a 21-6 run to grab a 44-37 lead. NYU took advantage of 15 first half turnovers by the Yellowjackets.NYU began the second half by extending their lead to 58-46 lead with 12:14 remaining. The Yellowjackets never recovered from their inauspicious start.Rachel Wojdowski led NYU with 21 points. Lauren D’Ambrosio netted 12 points and Adrienne Rochetti added 14 for the Violets. Chantal Kazay amassed 11 points and nine rebounds, while Stephanie Huhn collected nine rebounds for NYU.NYU, who is ranked 13th in the most recent ESPN/USA Today/WBCA poll, remained tied for first place in the UAA. The upset win is NYU’s ninth consecutive victory and improves the Violets’ record to 20-2 overall, 9-2 in the UAA. The Violets have posted at least 20 wins for the 12th straight season.The Yellowjackets dropped to 18-4 overall and 7-4 in the UAA. They have dropped their last three games, but all of them have been road contests. With three games remaining in the conference season, the Yellowjackets are still in contention for a UAA championship. A three-game win streak would give UR a 10-4 UAA mark and a 21-4 overall record. That record would match last year’s mark, when the Yellowjackets qualified as a Pool C team for the Division III playoffs and eventually advanced to the Final Four. The UAA is arguably the toughest conference in the NCAA this season. Four teams are currently ranked in the Top 25. Besides NYU and UR, Washington University in St. Louis and Brandeis University are ranked. The Yellowjackets have split their head-to-head matchups with each of those teams.The Yellowjackets next play on Friday in the Palestra against Case Western Reserve University. UR will be looking to exact revenge against the team that beat them 82-78 in double-overtime earlier this month. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. Following that match, the women will play in the Palestra on Sunday against Emory University. That tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday’s game is “Senior Night” for the men’s and women’s basketball teams. The women’s team will be saying goodbye to seniors Smith, Carrozza, and Shannon Higgins. Smith is the teams leading scorer at 14.1 points per contest. Carrozza is the starting point guard and leads the Yellowjackets with an average of 4.5 assists per game. Higgins is among the teams leading rebounders, pulling down 4.0 rebounds per game. The Yellowjackets hope to pack the house for those two games. Students are encouraged to come to the final home games this weekend wearing “Yellow Fever” T-shirts and other Yellowjacket memorabilia. Admission to the games is free with a valid UR ID. Tipton can be reached at rtipton@campustimes.org.