NYU women’s basketball kicked off its season with two wins in the NYU Tip-Off Classic this past weekend. The Violets started on Saturday with a formidable performance against Alvernia University, winning with a final score of 101-58, and wrapped up the weekend with an 85-74 victory over Haverford College.

In the first quarter of its opening matchup against the Alvernia Golden Wolves, NYU made the most of its height advantages by outscoring the Golden Wolves 14-2 in points in the paint.

After stringing together several key defensive stops, NYU scored multiple layups off the transition to take a 24-10 lead at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Violets continued their fast-paced plays and offensive ball movement. In her team debut, first-year guard Caroline Peper scored the team’s first 3-pointer of the game, and would go on to score three more.

The Violets continued to dominate through the second half, with bench players stepping up to score 55 of NYU’s 101 points against Alvernia.

Following the win on Saturday, the Violets looked to carry forward their momentum into Sunday’s matchup against the Haverford Fords. The Fords proved to be a much closer matchup than Alvernia — NYU led by only four points going into halftime. At the start of the fourth quarter, though, the Violets were up by eight and started to pull away — with about six minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Violets held a 16-point lead.

NYU would have to defend that lead, however, holding off a late rally from Haverford. Down by double digits, the Fords went on a 15-1 run, coming within two points of the lead with under three minutes remaining. In the final two minutes, the Violets turned to sophomore guard Belle Pellecchia, the reigning UAA Rookie of the Year, to close out the game.

Pellecchia scored six key points in the game’s closing minutes to finish with 24 points, plus six rebounds and five assists. Although Pellecchia was crucial down the stretch, the game’s biggest moment was an and-one conversion by junior forward Natalie Bruns to put the Violets up 77-70 with just over a minute left to play. Bruns would finish with 14 points, coming in third in scoring after senior forward Jenny Walker, who put up 21 points.

After the nail-biter against Haverford, NYU finished the opening weekend with a 2-0 to their 2022-23 season. The Violets will head on the road this Friday, Nov. 18 to take on Vassar College, but will return home Saturday to take on Kean University. 

Contact Kyle Yuan at [email protected].