After a tight first half, New York University started the second half on a 12-4 run over the first the first 2:26 of the third quarter to open up a 12-point lead and ultimately defeat Gettysburg 76-51 in the quarterfinal round of the 2025 NCAA Div. III women’s basketball championship Saturday night at Bream Gym.
Six-foot guard Caroline Peper led the undefeated defending national champion Violets back to the national semifinals with a game-high 29 points, while 6-1 forward Natalie Bruns added 16 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists. She also had two steals and a blocked shot.
Shinya Lee led the Bullets with 14 points, 10 rebounds, and three blocked shots. AB Holsinger added 10 points, while Jameson Mott contributed nine.
Five points from Peper keyed a 7-0 start for NYU in the game’s first 1:16. Out of a timeout, a Lee putback and Jameson Mott’s 3-pointer closed the deficit to two with 7:58 showing. The Violets pushed the lead out to eight with another 6-0 burst, but Gettysburg clawed back to within three points on three occasions, including AB Holsinger beating the first-quarter buzzer to make it 18-15.
A 6-0 burst in a 2-minute, 21-second span pushed the lead out to 29-19 at the midway point of the second period. Trailing 31-21, baskets from Lee, Emily Violante, and Amanda Rapel cut the deficit to 31-27 at the break.
Points from five different NYU players in the first 2:26 of the third quarter quickly extended the lead to 43-31, and the Violets led by double digits the rest of the way. Lee momentarily stopped the momentum, but Peper canned a triple at the other end to eclipse the 20-point mark for the game. NYU tallied the final six points of the third quarter to extend the lead to 58-40. A Peper pull-up in the first 65 seconds of the fourth quarter made it a 20-point game for the first time. The Violets run extended to 12 straight, taking a 66-40 lead with 6:29 to play en route to the 25-point win.
NYU shot 50 percent for the game, including 61.3 percent in the second half, while holding Gettysburg to 35.7 percent for the night. The Violets move on to the Division III Final Four in Salem, VA, where they will meet the University of Wisconsin-Stout on Thursday.
The loss snaps the Bullets’ program-record 35-game home winning streak and ends their season at 28-3. Gettysburg will expect more great things next season as most of the roster returns. Lee, a senior, concluded a fine season and career with a single-season record of 91 blocked shots and a program-record 242 for her career.
Source: Gettysburg College
Photos by Pete Vogel
