WALTHAM, Mass. - The Brandeis University women's basketball team
got a career-high 18 points from junior guard Lauren
Rashford (Whitesboro, N.Y./Whitesboro) to lead the Judges,
ranked No. 19 in the d3hoops.com national poll, past No. 20
Chicago, 63-53, in a University Athletic Association contest.
Brandeis wraps the first half of UAA play at 13-4, 3-4 in the
conference, while Chicago falls to 13-5, 4-3 UAA.
Rashford scored 11 of her 18 points in the second half. She hit
6-of-10 from the field for the game, including 3-of-5 from 3-point
range. Junior Jessica Chapin (Mendon, N.Y./Honeoye
Falls-Lima) added 12 points, seven coming in the first half, while
grabbing a game-high eight rebounds. Chapin keyed a fine team
effort by Brandeis on the boards that outrebounded the
league-leaders in rebound margin, 38-24, UC's largest deficit of
the season. The Judges also connected on a 42.9 percent from the
field (18-42) against a team that was holding foes to just 30
percent shooting for the season, tops in NCAA Division III, while
outscoring the Maroons, 22-13, from the free-throw line.
Chicago got 17 points from rookie guard Bryanne Halfhill
(Canfield, Ohio). Halfhill shot 6-of-14 from the floor, 3-of-7 from
3-point range, and 2-of-2 from the line. Senior guard Alex Leach
(Gurnee, Ill./Warren) added nine points and sister Stacy added
seven off the bench, but no other Maroon player had more than six
points. Rookie forward Gabrielle Blackwell (Schaumberg,
Ill./Schaumberg) led the visitors with five rebounds.
After Chicago took an early 5-2 lead on a Halfhill trifecta,
Brandeis scored the next nine points of the game - four by Rashford
- to claim an 11-5 lead they would never relinquish. The lead was
still six points, 23-17, following a deep ball by UC junior guard
Jamie Stinson (Topeka, Kans./Shawnee Heights) with 7:27 left before
the break. Brandeis pulled away at that point, closing the half on
a 16-2 run, holding the visitors to just 1-for-8 shooting with six
turnovers in the stretch. Meanwhile, the Judges hit 3-for-7 and all
six of their free throws over the run, taking a 36-19 lead into the
break. The 19 points were Chicago's lowest total of the season,
while the Judges' 36 points came on 54.5 percent shooting (12-22).
Chicago came out of the locker room reinvigorated, however, as
they opened the stanza on a 16-3 streak of their own. Brandeis
committed seven turnovers in the first eight minutes after
committing just nine in the first half. The Judges also missed
seven of their first eight shots as UC climbed back into the
contest behind five points each from Halfhill and Alex Leach, whose
jumped with 12:24 left cut the lead to four at 39-35.
Brandeis snapped out of their funk at that, point, guided by
four straight points from senior Amanda Wells
(Loudon, N.H./Merrimack Valley). Wells hit two free throws and then
a jumper from the foul line to push the lead back to eight, 43-35.
A Rashford trifecta the next trip down the floor, followed by two
more Wells foul shots got the margin to 13, 48-35, midway through
the frame.
After a long scoreless stretch with Brandeis leading, 52-41,
Chicago made another run with six unanswered points on two Halfhill
free throws, a Stinson trifecta and a foul shot by Stacey Leach.
Leach missed the second free throw, however, and Rashford answered
with a dagger 3-pointer that pushed the lead to eight, and the
Judges were able to hang on from there. Chicago was able to get
back into the game by converting 14 Brandeis turnovers in the
second half into 20 points, but 13-of-17 shooting from the line by
the Judges was able to counter the surge.
The same two teams will meet next weekend, when Brandeis kicks
of the second half of the UAA schedule on Friday night at Chicago's
Ratner Center at 9:00 p.m. EST.
BOX
SCORE
