Women's Basketball Remains Unbeaten With Win Over Sage

Albany, NY - The NYU-Poly Lady Jays travelled to Sage Colleges on Tuesday evening to take on the Lady Gators in the first game in nearly a month for both squads. In the end, NYU-Poly rallied for the 53-48 win to remain perfect in the Skyline Conference and improve to 7-1 overall with a 5-0 league record. Sage drops to 4-5 overall and 3-3 in the league.

 NYU-Poly’s junior forward Margaux Pickell (Howell, NJ) had a game-high 24 points and 22 rebounds to lead her team to the come from behind win.

NYU-Poly trailed 29-23 at the break thanks in part to some early game miscues. The Gators had three players connect for six points in the first half as senior Jessica Byerwalters, sophomore guard Ashleigh Nelson, and junior guard Tiffany Bezio each led the team. NYU-Poly held a 27-17 edge on the boards in the first half of play and Sage connected on five first half three-point buckets.

 For NYU-Poly, Pickell had a first half double-double after tallying 13 points and 12 boards.

 The low-scoring game was tied at 45-45 with just under two minutes to play. The Lady Jays expanded their lead when Pickell hit both ends of a one and one to give her team a lead, 49-45 with 20.3 left. Sage pulled within one point, 49-48 after rookie forward Chelsea Martin made both free throws with 15.0 to go. But, down the stretch, the Lady Jays made all four free throws to come away with the win.

NYU-Poly’s senior guard Kristin Leitheuser (Spring Valley, NY) also had a double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds. NYU-Poly made 17-of-22 free throws on the night - one of the team's best performance's of the season - and was 11-13 in the second half.

NYU-Poly will travel to Mount St. Mary College on Thursday for a battle of the undefeateds atop the Skyline. Game time is 7:00pm.