There have been few teams to dominate women’s basketball like the NYU Violets have in the past three seasons. With a perfect record across 3 years, the Violets have made history after holding one of the longest win streaks in college basketball history at 91 games. However, after reaching such a mind-blowing feat, NYU faced their first defeat against Scranton as the Violets lost 60-52 nearly two weeks ago in the Final Four of the NCAA Div. III Women’s Basketball Tournament. The loss marks the first time that NYU has faced defeat since the 2023 season where they fell short to Transylvania University, 79-63, during the Elite Eight.
Both Scranton and NYU held a flawless record before entering the matchup. The Lady Royals challenged the Violets from the beginning of play, springing to a 17-5 start at the end of the first quarter. The early run really did the damage as NYU trailed for almost the entire game, and with a consistently solid defense that prevented the Violets from battling back, Scranton did the unthinkable and landed themselves a spot in the Finals.
NYU got things close during the third quarter after shaving Scranton’s lead to five points, and it seemed like the Violets were on the verge of pulling off an epic comeback. However, the Lady Royals fought back and went on an 11-3 run to end the quarter leading by a score of 47-34. This breakaway put the dagger in the coffin and cemented the end of NYU’s historic streak. The Scranton women’s team celebrated as they scored one of the biggest wins in their franchise’s history, maintained their unblemished record, and brought themselves one step closer to lifting the trophy at the end of the year.
While a 91-game win streak seems like an incredibly bizarre statistic, it’s only the second longest win streak in women’s college basketball history. The Uconn Huskies went on to record a streak of 111 consecutive victories spanning from the 2014 to 2017 seasons before losing to Mississippi State at the buzzer in the Final Four with a score of 66-64. Other streaks include UConn’s 90-game win streak from 2008 to 2010, Washington’s (Div. III) 81-game win streak from 1998 to 2001, and Ashland’s (Div. II) 73-game win streak from 2016 to 2018. Very few teams have managed to maintain such high levels of consistency, and booking a spot on the list shows just how unstoppable these franchises were during their best years. NYU may have fallen short in this year’s tournament, but they stamped themselves in the record books after holding one of the longest streaks in college history.
