(yumacs.com) The Yeshiva University women’s basketball team earned its first victory of the season by defeating Sarah Lawrence College, 73-54, at the Max Stern Athletic Center on Sunday afternoon.
Yeshiva (1-5) led from wire-to-wire, and scored the game’s first seven points, while holding Sarah Lawrence (0-1) to just 24.3% shooting from the field.
«It was a total team effort on both ends of the floor,» Yeshiva University Head Coach Bill Zatulskis said. It is his first victory at the helm for YU.
Leading the way was sophomore guard Yuval Nitzan who scored a game-best 19 points, led all players with five steals and distributed four assists. Junior forward Jennie Mellman notched 17 points, grabbed five boards, dished out two assists and blocked just as many shots. Freshman guard Shai Rahamim produced 10 points, three caroms, three assists and just as many steals. Junior guard Rebecca Malech just missed a double-double with eight points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
The Maccabees got off to a fast start as a pair of field goals by Nitzan, and a 3-point basket from Mellman, gave the home team a 7-0 advantage out of the gate. After the Gryphons scored the next six points to pull to within one, Yeshiva countered by scoring 16 straight points to take a commanding 23-6 hold with 38 ticks remaining in the opening quarter. YU held Sarah Lawrence scoreless for 6:25 during that stretch.
In the second stanza, the Gryphons were able to shrink the Macs’ advantage to 25-15. However, a layup by Nitzan kicked off another 7-0 run that extended the Blue and White’s lead to 17 with 3:07 remaining in the period. In the closing seconds of the opening half, senior guard Miriam Kazlow drained a jump shot in the paint to inflate Yeshiva’s lead to 36-24 and that would be the score heading into the intermission.
Less than two minutes into the third quarter, Malech converted a layup while being fouled. She added a free throw to complete the traditional 3-point play that gave the Maccabees a commanding 45-27 hold. The Macs’ cushion continued to inflate, as Rahamim’s successful shot from downtown gave YU a 57-34 benefit with 4:51 to go in the stanza.
In the fourth, sophomore forward Daniella Rothman grabbed an offensive rebound and executed a putback layup to give Yeshiva its largest lead of the afternoon, at 64-40, with 6:40 remaining in regulation time. The Maccabees went on to earn their first victory of the season by a score of 73-54.
Senior forward Lindsay Brandwein dished out a career-best seven assists, while scoring seven points and grabbing six rebounds. Rothman had nine rebounds, while sophomore forward Gabrielle Kupferman brought down six boards. First-year guard Renee Benjamini netted three points, while sophomore forward Noa Berkowitz added five rebounds.
