After clawing their way to a two-point lead through 30 minutes, the No. 8 Washington University Women’s Basketball team went ice cold in the fourth quarter, missing seven of their last eight from the field on their way to a 66-64 loss to No. 9 New York University Sunday afternoon in the Field House.

“This was a game we should have won,” Head Women’s Basketball Coach Nancy Fahey said. “We made too many mistakes down the stretch, and, when we can’t finish out a game, it doesn’t matter how well we played earlier.”

Amanda Martinez drives toward the basket in the Bears’ loss against New York University Sunday afternoon. Martinez led the team with 13 points and eight rebounds.

The Bears led by as many as nine points early in the fourth quarter, but they saw their lead evaporate as the Violets penetrated the paint and recorded easy layups. Down by two points with about 11 seconds remaining, sophomore guard Natalie Orr attempted a three-pointer from the corner that rimmed out.

“It was not the greatest of shots, but my teammates found me; I had an open look, and I took it,” Orr said. “It’s tough; that is not the way we wanted to close out the game.”

Orr recorded nine points to go along with four rebounds and five assists, but she attempted the last three Bear shots of the game, all misses. After NYU raced to an early 14-2 lead, Orr came off the bench and galvanized the Bears with a baseline floater, which she immediately followed up with a steal and a jumper on a fast break. The two teams traded leads throughout the first half, but Wash. U. closed with a 34-32 lead.

The Bears pressed their momentum onward to the third quarter with a balanced scoring attack led by senior forward Amanda Martinez and senior point guard Jordan Thompson, who chipped in 13 and 12 points, respectively. The Wash. U. defense stifled NYU, forcing the Violets to commit 23 turnovers, the 12th time this season they have forced their opponents to cough up the ball 20 or more times. Meanwhile, the Bears only turned the ball over 10 times, in line with their 9.57 turnover margin, fourth best in the NCAA.

“When we play with energy and focus, our defense is superb,” Fahey said. “But we did not maintain that level of attention throughout the game, and that is something we need to do in the future.”

Guard Jordan Thompson scored 12 points in the Bears’ game against No. 9-ranked New York University. The hard-fought game ended in a 66-64 loss for the Bears.

The Bears also did not shoot particularly well on Sunday. The team shot 39.3 percent from the field on 24-61 shooting, while the Violets shot 51.2 percent on 21-41 shooting. NYU also outrebounded the Bears by a margin of 32-26, and the Violets made nine three-pointers compared to only four from Wash. U.

“I thought we had some moments where we shot well, but, overall, we still need to do a better job,” Orr said. “That will definitely be something to focus on in practice.”

With the loss, the Bears fall to 13-3, with a 4-1 record in the UAA. Wash. U. falls into a tie for second in the conference with NYU, while University of Rochester takes sole possession of first place with a perfect 5-0 conference record.

Earlier in the weekend, Wash. U. managed to defeat another conference foe in Brandeis University, by a score of 65-59, on Friday in St. Louis. In that game, Orr exploded for a career-high 24 points on 8-12 shooting. Historically, the Bears now have a 52-3 overall record against Brandeis.

Though the Red and Green’s 24 game home winning streak has been snapped, they will look to get back on the winning column as they host No. 7 University of Rochester on Friday, Jan. 29 and Emory University on Sunday, Jan. 31.