Vassar Brewers Fall to New York University 84-64

By Amie Canfield

BROOKLYN – Four players reached double figures to lead undefeated New York University to an 84-64 win over Vassar College at the Brooklyn Athletic Facility on Tuesday evening. The Violets improve to 5-0 on the young season, while the Brewers slip to 0-5 overall.

Leading NYU was Brooklyn Shelton, who came off the bench to post a game-high 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the floor. She also added six rebounds and a game-best seven assists over 24 minutes of action. Belle Pellecchia added 18 points with 12 boards for the double-double, with two blocks and assist and three steals, while Jenny Walker also had a double-double, dropping in 16 points and 14 boards.

For the Brewers, senior captain Sarah Gillooly had 19 points with a team-high six boards, dropping in five assists. Rookie Julia Harvey notched 14 points with three boards and two steals, while classmate Tova Gelb had 13 points with an assist and two steals. Senior captain Dani Douglas had a game-best four steals.

It was a close game at the opening quarter as neither team led by more than two until the 6:11 mark when a jumper from Harvey put the Brewers ahead by a 9-6 margin. Walker countered for NYU but another jumper – this one from rookie Tash Thompson – pushed the margin back out to three (11-8) with 5:35 to play in the frame.

The Brewers continued to hold the advantage until the 4:22 mark as a jumper from Walker pushed the home team ahead and a three-pointer by Erica Miller at 3:19 made it a 15-11 lead for the Violets. A layup from Shelton at 1:34 put NYU up by an eight-point (21-13) margin, but a three from Harvey with 31 seconds left sent the team’s into the second frame with Vassar trailing 21-16.

Second quarter action opened with sharp-shooting from the Violets, who went on an 8-0 run to build up a 33-20 lead at the 6:48 mark following a Jordan Janowski jumper. The Brewers countered on a pair of Douglas makes at the line, while junior captain Eliza Srinivasan and Gillooly each sank a pair of shots over the final 2:00 to send it into halftime with NYU holding a 39-27 advantage.

A third quarter layup at 6:46 by Gillooly helped pull the Brewers back into a single digit deficit as her bucket in the paint closed the gap to 43-35. A five-point run from junior Alex Lee helped keep Vassar in the fight, cutting the deficit to nine (52-43) with 3:36 to play in the quarter. The Brewers were unable to hold off the Violets offense, which got a trey from Pellecchia, a layup by Shelton and a pair of makes at the line by Natalie Bruns to give the home squad a 63-46 lead heading into the final frame.

Final quarter action saw Vassar trailing by a 24-point (78-54) margin, but back-to-back three pointers from Gelb cut the deficit to 18, while a jumper from Gillooly made it a 16-point (78-62) gap with 1:27 to play. Another Thompson layup helped counter an NYU three-pointer, but the Violets closed out the game with a shot from beyond the arc with six seconds to seal the win.

Vassar returns to action on Friday, December 3 when it opens Liberty League play against Ithaca College at AFC Gym. Game time is set for 5:30pm.