The Justice

Media Credit: David Sheppard-Brick Forward Amber Strodthoff '11 holds the ball in the paint in a win against the University of Chicago last Sunday.

The No. 19 women's basketball team had seen its 36-19 halftime lead against University Athletic Association opponent No. 20 University of Chicago whittled to just five points with 3 minutes, 13 seconds left in last Sunday's game. A Chicago comeback victory would have dropped the Judges to a lowly 2-5 in the UAA and significantly damaged their chances of returning to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight year.

But at that moment, guard Lauren Rashford '10 gave the Judges necessary breathing room as she caught a pass from forward Lauren Orlando '09 and hit a three-pointer from the right corner to give the Judges a 55-47 lead.

"That was just great ball movement," Rashford said. "It was just a great team play, a team effort. We were just swinging the ball around, and it hit me in the corner."

The Maroons would not get any closer as the Judges rebounded for a 63-53 win after losing at home last Friday to No. 24 Washington University in St. Louis 61-55. The win improves the Judges to 13-4 on the season and 3-4 after the first half of the UAA schedule.

Chicago first began to chip away at the Brandeis lead at the start of the second half. The Maroons took advantage of six Brandeis turnovers, three by Rashford, to go on a 12-0 run to pull within five points at 36-31. For the game the Maroons scored 23 points off 23 Brandeis turnovers while the Judges scored just six points off 17 Chicago turnovers.

"We came back in the beginning of the second half; we just weren't as aggressive defensively," coach Carol Simon said. "We were very flat, we made some really bad decisions on offense, and that made us really have to work that much harder during the game."

Guard Jessica Chapin '10 then hit a jumper to stop the Chicago run, but two more Chicago field goals made the score 39-35 with 12:24 left. Brandeis then found its rhythm again, going on a 9-0 run to stretch its lead to 48-35 with just under 10 minutes remaining. Reserve forward Amanda Wells '09, who had a season-high eight points off the bench, scored six of the Judges' points during the run. The rest of the Judges' bench was strong as well, outscoring Chicago's 21-16.

Continued...

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