Led by tournament MVP Cara Bonito, the New York University women's basketball team captured the NYU Tip-Off Tournament Championship with a 64-52 victory over FDU-Florham on Saturday, November 19.
 
The Violets (3-0), who hosted the tournament at the Coles Sports Center in Manhattan, remained unbeaten in Tip-Off history. NYU has won all 10 of its annual Tip-Off Tournaments, posting a perfect 20-0 record.
 
Bonito led the Violets to this title, totaling team highs of 14 points and five assists in the Championship. In NYU's 62-40 victory over Clarkson University in the opening round of the tournament, she had 11 points, three assists and four steals.
 
For the tournament, Bonito went 15-17 (88.2%) from the free-throw line.
 
"I'm extremely proud of her," said Violet head coach Stefano Trompeo. "She's come a long way to now being a senior captain stepping into a starting role. She was excellent at the free-throw line, and she's a person I feel very confident in to knock down big free throws late in games."
 
Defense once again proved critical to a Violet victory; though they narrowly missed holding a third straight opponent to under 50 points, they did limit FDU (2-1) to just 27.9% shooting (19-68) a day after the Devils scored 100 points.
 
"Knowing how athletic FDU is and with them coming off 100 points, we just tried to keep the girls focused on the defensive principles we've stressed all season," commented Trompeo. "The activity level was much higher today. We focused on trying to force them into tough shots, and we did a good job of getting defensive rebounds."
 
NYU entered halftime leading by 10, 28-18, after holding the Devils to just five points through the game's first 10 minutes. The Violets then stormed out of the game to start the second half, using an 11-2 run to quickly build a 19-point lead, 39-20.
 
NYU eventually went up by 21 on a pair of Erica Franke free throws before a late FDU run cut it to 11 with less than a minute to play. But a free throw from Bianca Storts and two more by Bonito ended any threat of a miracle comeback.
 
Shelby Coon pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds for the Violets, while Alexis Doherty corralled 10. Storts (13 points) and Tana Bertino (10 points) joined Bonito in double figures, with Storts adding three assists.
 
Storts and Coon were both named to the Tip-Off All-Tournament Team, as were Kyra Dayon of FDU, Noelle Miller of Clarkson and Joanna Marciniec of St. Joseph's College-Brooklyn.
 
Dayon led the Devils with a game-high 17 points to go along with five boards and four steals. Jalessa Lewis had 14 points and six rebounds, while Quaneshia Harris totaled 10 points and seven boards.
 
NYU returns to action on Wednesday, Nov. 23, for its first road game of 2011-12. The Violets make the short trip to NYU-Poly for a 7:00 pm game in Brooklyn.