Manhattan, N.Y. - November 22, 2015 - The Springfield College women's basketball program suffered its first setback of the 2015-16 season, falling to No. 5/7 New York University on Sunday afternoon at the legendary Coles Sports Center.

Following an opening victory in the NYU Invitational over Heidelburg on Saturday, the Pride's first loss of the season drops its record to 2-1 overall, while the Violets, which were ranked No. 5 in the D3hoops.com Preseason Poll and No. 7 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, improve to 3-0 on the year.

For Springfield, senior Heather Lewis (Saratoga Springfs, N.Y.) continued her strong start to the season, posting a team-best 10 points on the afternoon, all of which came in the first half. Classmate Emily Gins (Fort Myers, Fla.) followed up with nine points and three rebounds while sophomore Heather King (Lebanon, N.H.) and junior Danielle Racette (North Adams, Mass.) registered eight points apiece. 

On the afternoon, the Pride shot 16-for-47 (34%), while the Violets were 25-for-60 (41.7%) from the field. NYU held a 39-32 advantage on the boards, while also cashed in 20 points off of Springfield turnovers.

For the Violets, junior guard Kaitlyn Read (University Park, Tex.) posted a game-high 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting, while Amy Harioka (Danville, Calif.) notched 12 points of her own in the victory.

The Violets jumped out to an early 7-2 lead on the Pride following a lay-up from Read, but Springfield crawled back into the contest with six unanswered points, including a jumper from Lewis to give Springfield an 8-7 lead with 6:43 to go in the opening quarter.

Following a three-pointer from Molly McCausland (Millbury, Mass.) that made it a one-point, 14-13 contest with 2:57 to go in the first quarter, Megan Dawe (Santa Clarita, Calif.) countered with a basket, followed by five points from Read to give the hosts a 21-16 advantage, before Christa Brent (Wilmington, Mass.) ended the first quarter with a lay-up to make it 23-19 at the end of one.

Keeping NYU in reach through a majority of the second quarter, NYU took a 34-27 lead following a jumper from Drew Cabral (Los Angeles, Calif.), but back-to-back baskets from McCausland and Lewis cut Springfield's deficit to three, before the Violets closed out the first half, 36-32, after a jumper from Liv Linebarger (Warrenville, Illi.).

NYU came out firing in the second half, going on a 14-4 run to kick things off, capped by a Cabral lay-up to make it 48-36, Violets, midway through the stanza. From there, Racette converted a three-point attempt to make it a 10-point game, before a pair of free-throws from Maya Wasowicz (New York, N.Y.) ended the third quarter with a 53-42 NYU advantage.

Following a lay-up from Mikaela Pyatt (Miami, Fla.) to make it 61-46, NYU, Racette drilled her second three-pointer of the contest to make it a 12-point game, but the Violets would outlast the Pride, scoring the last 11 points of the contest to seal the victory.

Next, Springfield will return home to Blake Arena on Tuesday, November 24 when it will host Williams College at 4:30 p.m.