In Salem, Va., the noise inside Roanoke College’s Cregger Center tightened into something sharper as scranton women’s basketball held a lead that kept getting tested. NYU, unbeaten for so long it had started to feel like a season-long certainty, kept cutting into the margin. But every time the Violets surged, the Lady Royals answered, and a 60-52 result on Thursday night ended a record 91-game winning streak.
How did Scranton Women’s Basketball end NYU’s 91-game streak?
NYU’s run—91 straight wins—stopped in the NCAA Division III women’s basketball semifinals when Scranton defeated the Violets 60-52 in Salem. The Violets trailed 30-18 at halftime after what NYU coach Meg Barber described as a slow start that left her team “playing from behind, which is a little unusual for our team. ”
NYU’s comeback arrived quickly after halftime. The Violets opened the third quarter with a run that trimmed a 12-point deficit down to three, a sequence that University of Scranton coach Ben O’Brien said he expected. “A team doesn’t win 91 straight games without trying to mount a comeback, ” O’Brien said.
The hinge, though, was Scranton’s response after a timeout. Meghan Lamanna hit a 3-pointer coming out of that break, and she later hit two free throws down the stretch to help seal it. “During the timeout we talked things over and how we needed to get stops and get our momentum back, ” Lamanna said. “When I had a little bit of space, I shot it and I feel like that kind of got us goin. ”
What did the game feel like on the floor as NYU rallied?
The contest had the feel of a matchup built for the Final Four stage—highly anticipated, tight, and emotionally loud without ever spilling into chaos. Scranton’s first half was defined by control: ball pressure, disrupted looks, and a scoreboard that reflected discomfort on the other side. Yet even then, there were signs the night would demand more than a strong opening. A 3-pointer by NYU’s Brooke Batchelor just before halftime cut the lead to 30-18 and, as Barber put it, “gave us a little life. ”
When NYU cut it to 31-28 with 5: 47 left in the third, the building shifted again. Barber pointed to Scranton’s defensive work, saying the Lady Royals “took away some of the looks we normally get, ” and that NYU’s offense felt “a little bit stagnant, a little bit tight. ”
Even late, NYU pushed. Down 13 in the fourth quarter, the Violets closed within 56-52 with 46 seconds left. In another moment Barber highlighted, Olivia Lagao hit a jumper to narrow the margin to 52-44, but NYU then had “two back-to-back turnovers, ” which Barber tied to fatigue and the effort demanded on defense.
For Scranton, the win was not framed as one player’s hero story, even with Lamanna’s finishing touches. O’Brien called it “a total team effort, ” adding that what mattered most was response—again and again—when NYU landed its punches.
What happens next, and what does this loss mean for NYU?
With the win, Scranton (32-0) advanced to the national championship game on Saturday at 4 p. m. ET against Denison University. The Lady Royals will play for their second title in program history; their first came in 1985. Lamanna led Scranton with 18 points. Kaeli Romanowski totaled 14 points, 16 rebounds, two assists and five steals, and was named a Women’s Basketball Coaches Association All-American honorable mention earlier Thursday. Elizabeth Bennett added 10 points, all in the first half.
For NYU (29-1), the loss closed a chapter defined by winning and the weight of sustaining it. The Violets’ streak was the second-longest in NCAA history, behind UConn’s 111-game run, and NYU had been winning by an average of more than 35 points this season. Their last loss before Thursday night came March 11, 2023, in the Elite Eight against Transylvania.
Caroline Peper, NYU’s lone senior and the only player on the roster who had experienced a college loss in her career, scored 19 points. Barber described Peper as “a coach on the floor, ” praising her IQ and selflessness. After the game, Peper spoke in personal terms rather than statistical ones: “This team really means the world to me, ” she said, adding, “I couldn’t have picked a better team to go out with. ”
Barber, too, resisted reducing the night to a simple ending. “Contrary to popular belief, I do remember what this feels like, ” she said of losing, before stressing that the group’s identity extended beyond the scoreboard and that she wanted what her team showed “the NYU community and the NYU fans” to be part of how the season is remembered.
As the floor cleared and the reality settled in, scranton women’s basketball carried forward what NYU could not: one more game, one more chance. The streak is over, but the scene that replaced it—timeouts, pressure, a three out of the break, free throws in the final seconds—now becomes the memory both teams will keep returning to.
