The Justice

Forward Cassidy Dadaos '09, left, powers for a layup last Saturday. Sara Brandenburg/the Justice

With 11 minutes, 41 seconds left in last Saturday's game against New York University, reserve forward Amber Strodthoff '11 found point guard and co-captain Kiersten Holgash '08, who nailed her third consecutive outside shot in a span of less than two minutes.

Holgash's shots gave Brandeis a 14-point lead, and the Judges held off a 24-13 Violets scoring tear down the stretch to win 63-60 and secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season. Brandeis finished with an 18-7 record in the regular season and wound up third place in the University Athletic Association with a 9-5 mark. They will play the University of Southern Maine in Union, N.J. Friday at 6 p.m.

Holgash, who was honored along with captain and forward Jaime Capra '08 and guard Courtney Tremblay '08 during Senior Day, had a season-high 13 points.

"In practice all week we worked on doubling down in the post because NYU likes to do that a lot," Holgash said. "[Our post players] made some unbelievable passes, … and we had a nice inside-outside game going."

Guard Jessica Chapin '10 led all players with 20 points while picking up six rebounds and two steals, and the three seniors combined for 31 points in their last home game. Capra recorded her third double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Tremblay added five points and two rebounds off the bench in 15 minutes.

"It was a good note to go out on, on the home court and everything," Tremblay said. "I'm proud of myself, [and] I'm proud of [Capra] and [Holgash]. [Holgash] played unbelievable, so you can't really hold a match to that."

The Judges took their first lead of the afternoon with 10:29 left in the first half and led by as many as eight points after forward and co-captain Cassidy Dadaos '09 found Chapin for a three-pointer, putting the Judges ahead 26-18 with 3:02 left in the half. Sixteen of Chapin's 20 points came in the first half of the game.

"My teammates were getting me the ball, and I was open," Chapin said. "Layups and open shots, everything was falling ... My teammates were finding me off the screens, and they were going in."

Defensive prowess allowed the Judges to hold NYU to 23 points on 34.8 percent shooting from the field in taking a seven-point lead at halftime.

Continued...

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