Evans Leads Washington U. Past New York, 71-55, on Senior Day

WASHINGTON U.-NEW YORK BOX

St. Louis, Mo., February 24, 2008 – Sophomore Janice Evans scored a career-high 19 points on 8-of-11 shoot from the field to lead three Bears in double figures as the No. 24 Washington University women’s basketball team posted a 71-55 win over New York University on Sunday afternoon at the WU Field House in St. Louis, Mo. The Bears improved to 12-0 at home this year, and have now won 23-straight games at the WU Field House dating back to last year.

The Bears’ win sets up a showdown with the University of Chicago in the regular season finale on Saturday, March 1, in the Windy City. Both teams are 10-3 in University Athletic Association (UAA) play, and will vie for the outright conference title and an automatic bid to the 2008 NCAA Division III Tournament.

Sophomore forward Zoë Unruh added 15 points, while junior guard Halsey Ward added 12 points and a career-high 10 rebounds, registering the first double-double of her career.

New York, (14-10, 3-10 UAA) came out in a zone defense, and the Bears capitalized hitting 3-of-4 from three-point range to jump out to a 17-8 lead with 14:09 left in the first half. The Violets got back into the game with three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to trim the lead to 17-14.

Unruh hit her third three-pointer of the half, and then nailed a 15-foot jumper to extend Washington U.’s lead to 24-16 with 7:18 left. Three-pointers by freshman Alex Hoover and Ward ignited an 8-0 run as Washington University pushed its lead to 10 (32-22).

Unruh led the Bears with 11 first-half points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field, including 3-of-5 from three-point range. The Bears hit 6-of-16 from three-point range, while committing just seven turnovers. Washington U. held New York to 33.3 percent (13-of-33) shooting in the first half.

The Violets scored the first four points of the second half to trim the lead to three (35-32), but WU answered back with an 8-0 run to take the 43-32 advantage. A three-pointer by Ward gave the Bears its largest advantage at 48-36 with under 12 minutes to go. Ward capped a 12-0 run by the Bears with back-to-back three-pointers to put the game out of reach at 64-49.

The Bears outrebounded New York, 46-32, and held NYU to 29.6 percent (16-of-54) shooting from the field.  Junior Shanna-Lei Dacanay finished with two assists, becoming just the 11th player in Washington U. history to eclipse 200 assists in a career. Hoover had a nice game off the bench with eight points, six assists and five rebounds.

New York’s Jessica McEntee, the UAA’s leading scorer at 21.1 points per game, was held to 15 points and 10 rebounds. Jen Hum-Traverso also scored in double figures for NYU with 13 points.