NEW YORK —Senior Belle Pellecchia (Mendham, N.J.) scored a game-high 16 points and graduate student Natalie Bruns (St. Louis, Mo.) tallied 11 points and game-highs of eight rebounds, seven assists, five blocks and five steals as No. 1 New York University defeated Babson College, 65-36, on day two of the Scholars Classic inside NYU's John A. Paulson Center.

With the loss, the Beavers return home from New York with a 1-1 record to start the season, while the defending Division III national champion NYU finishes off its weekend with a 2-0 start to the season.

Senior Camilla Silk (Medfield, Mass.), first-year Julia St. Laurent (Greenland, N.H.) and junior Claire McCarthy (Dorchester, Mass.) shared team-high scoring honors with six points apiece for the Beavers, and Silk and Mary Kate Flynn (Hanover, Mass.) pulled down six rebounds each. Senior Katelyn Mollica (Foxborough, Mass.) contributed five points and three steals in the setback.

Senior Mary Kate Fahey (Arlington Heights, Ill.) made a pair of three-pointers to finish with six points off the bench for the Violets, who held the Beavers to single-digit scoring in the first-two quarters on the way to a 27-11 lead at halftime.

NYU went on an eight-point run in a two-minute stretch midway through the first quarter before senior Kiara-Simone Davis (Coral Springs, Fla.) knocked down a three-pointer to keep the Beavers within five points at 10-5 at the end of the first quarter.

The Violets opened the second quarter with the first seven points to extend the margin to 12 before Mollica stopped the bleeding with a layup with 6:19 remaining. NYU answered with a three-pointer to spark an eight-point surge but a jumper by Flynn and a layup from sophomore Samantha Reale (North Attleboro, Mass.) pulled the Green and White to within 14 points in the final minute before Bruns converted a late jumper to give the hosts the 16-point margin at the intermission.

Babson outscored NYU 10-6 in the first six-plus minutes of the third quarter on three buckets by Silk, one by Reale and a pair of free throws by St. Laurent, but the Violets responded with a 16-3 run to close out the frame with a 49-24 lead. The NYU run was sparked by six points from Bruns and a three-pointer by Fahey.

The Violets pulled away with a 10-2 run to start the fourth quarter, including threes from juniors Caroline Peper (South Easton, Mass.) and Kate Peek (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.). McCarthy scored all six of her points for Babson in the final three minutes on a layup and four free throws.

The Beavers shot just 32.6 percent from the floor but finished with a 37-34 edge on the glass and scored 26 of their 36 points in the paint.

The Green and White come back to New England for their home opener against Bridgewater State on Wednesday at Staake Gymnasium at 7 p.m. NYU is home again on Friday against Kean at 6 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• Saturday's contest was the first all-time for the Beavers against NYU.
• Babson has outrebounded its first two opponents and is 14-4 since the start of last season when winning the battle on the glass.
• The Green and White shot at least 70 percent from the free throw line for the second day in a row and are 33-13 when converting 70 percent over the past three seasons.