NEW YORK (AP) — NYU coach Meg Barber was a player for the Violets when rival Washington University of St. Louis was approaching the Division III winning streak record.
Barber now has NYU two victories from breaking the mark held by Washington University of 81 consecutive wins from 1998-2001.
The Violets (18-0) will have a chance to tie the record Friday night when they visit Case Western University. A win there would set up a chance to break it Sunday at Carnegie Mellon.
“When I think about it being a fan of this program and not just the coach of this program, I would be excited to pass (Washington University) just because of what it represented to me as a player here,” Barber said. “Knowing how hard it is to do in the league that we’re in. I have an alumni group that blows up after every game.
“I think if we could pull this off, I’d be excited to read those messages.”
The Violets aren’t taking anything for granted, though. They beat Carnegie Mellon by just one point last Sunday at home. That has been the closest a team has come to defeating them during this run. No team had previously come within 12 points this season.
During the 80 consecutive wins, only two other teams got within single digits of the Violets: U Chicago lost by six and Whittier by eight.
Barber could sense her team was a bit anxious with the weight of the streak last weekend against Case Western and Carnegie Mellon, so the Violets sat down with a mental performance coach early this week.
”You could feel it this weekend a little bit, you know, you could see it kind of, which I guess, I probably wasn’t prepared for that,” she said. “There’s a point where you’re kind of like, I don’t know what number we’re on, but the players are too smart. When you’re one or two away, you just can’t ignore it anymore.”
Barber said they aren’t going to ignore what’s ahead this weekend, just be better prepared.
“There’s a better way to channel it and going out in the court and having those nerves,” she said.
The players say they never have been focused on that streak. They’re more interested in winning a third consecutive national championship. Only Wash U has done that when the school won four consecutive titles from 1998-2001.
“Keeping the streak going wasn’t one of our goals coming into the season,” senior Caroline Peper said. “I honestly don’t think any of us were really aware of it before this past weekend. But, you know, this streak isn’t really what defines our team. It’s more of, you know, the end goal, which is, again, another national championship.”
Peper is the only player on the roster to have actually lost a game in college at NYU. She was a freshman on the team that was beaten by Transylvania in the Elite Eight of the Division III NCAA Tournament.
“That’s definitely one that stuck with everyone who was on that team and really propelled us for the following year,” she said.
The Violets haven’t lost since.
What’s impressive about the success this year is that the team graduated Natalie Bruns and Belle Pellecchia — two of the best players in school history and yet they’ve kept rolling.
“There’s a real sense of accomplishment to make it through the first half of conference play without a loss,” Barber said. ”I mean, that alone is really difficult to do.”
While basketball is important to the players, academics are always a priority. Nearly every NYU player received interest from Division I programs, but many wanted to come to the school for the balance between athletics and academics.
Junior forward Yasmene Clark misses practice once a week because she’s taking classes at the Brooklyn campus. So she gets to the gym early that day and does individual work with the coaches.
“I missed practice completely on Wednesday (last semester),” Clark said. “And then this semester I missed like half of Thursday because of my class schedule.”
Another player comes late Thursday because of her class schedule, but Barber finds a way to make it work.
“I think on the court together we might have them for 30 minutes,” she said. “So we start with obviously the important stuff. And then, you know, both of them come in to get extra work individually, which I think often helps more than team practice.”
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