Traveling across the Hudson River to take on a top-25 team to start a season is no small task, but the NYU women’s basketball team was ready. The Violets defeated the Stevens Institute of Technology 60-48 in Hoboken on Tuesday, riding a strong first-quarter lead to the finish line. To top it off, senior guard Kaitlyn Read started her final season with a team-high 15 points.

The Violets were electric in the first quarter, jumping out to a 25-10 lead over the 24th-ranked Stevens after they shot 7-15 from the field. Stevens gave up nine turnovers in the quarter, leading to 14 points. But the Violets’ hot hands cooled off substantially in the second, winning only nine points in the second and allowing Stevens to edge within nine points at the half.

The two teams traded points in an inefficient third, setting up the fourth with Stevens down seven and the game still up for grabs. But after the lead tightened to five points with four minutes to go, the Violets finished the game on a clutch 7-0 run to secure their first win of the year, as Stevens went 0-6 from the field in the final minutes.

It was a tough night offensively for both teams. After their hot start, the Violets struggled to produce the rest of the way, finishing the night shooting 29 percent from the field. Stevens failed to capitalize, shooting a 30 percent clip. The Violets shot 7-26 from behind the arc compared to a dismal 1-16 from Stevens. The Violets led for a whopping 38:42 of the game, with Stevens’ last leading just minutes into the game. The teams combined for 47 fouls, and Stevens gave up 22 turnovers compared to NYU’s 14.

Read, who has taken the reigns as one of the team’s three senior captains, scored her 15 points on 4-14 shooting and went 6-6 from the free throw line. Freshman guard Annie Barrett — who joined the Violets this year after playing four years of high school basketball in Massachusetts — had the most efficient game for the Violets, scoring 14 points, grabbing six rebounds, and finishing with a team-high three assists. Third-year forward Kayla Patterson was also a key factor, scoring 10 points and 12 rebounds for her first double-double of the year. Read believes the win, albeit an imperfect one, was a strong start to the year

“The shots weren’t falling, but we were able to win in a gritty way and that was because our defense created chaos they couldn’t handle,” Read said. “We knew going in Stevens would be a huge game, but we came ready to prove ourselves and make a statement, which I think we did.”

With one important win in the books, the Violets return to Manhattan to get ready to host the NYU Women’s Basketball Tip-Off Classic at the Hunter Sportsplex, where they will face Baruch College on Saturday evening and the University of Massachusetts-Boston on Sunday.

Email Michael Thompson at [email protected].