CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Brandeis University women's basketball team played even with host Case Western Reserve in the first quarter and won the fourth quarter by seven points, but the Spartans doubled up the Judges, 35-17, in the middle two periods to take a 64-53 University Athletic Association victory today.

TEAM RECORDS

• Brandeis: 4-10, 0-3 UAA.
• Case Western Reserve: 8-6, 1-2 UAA.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Spartans were ahead early, 12-5, buthe Judges closed on a 13-4 run over the last 3:48 to even things up at 18-all after 10 minutes of play.
• Two 3-pointers by graduate student Francesca Marchese (Staten Island, N.Y./Staten Island Academy) and one by senior Selenya Gonzalez (Springfield, Mass./Springfield Central) helped capped the rally.
• Both teams were scoreless in the early going of the second period before Brandeis sophomore Maya Williams (Redondo Beach, Calif./Redondo Union) scored off a CWRU turnover to give the Judges a 20-18 lead.
• Brandeis got a 3-pointer from rookie Claire Candela (Maynard, Mass./Milton Academy) with 4:11 left in the first half to give the visitors a 25-24 lead, but the Spartans scored 10 of the last 12 points of the stanza to take a 34-27 lead into the locker room.
• The home team put things away by scoring the first 11 points of the second half, keeping Brandeis off the board for nearly eight minutes until Williams got them on the board with 2:16 to go.
• Brandeis outscored the Spartans 18-11 in the fourth, as junior Caitlin Gresko (Howell, N.J./Howell) scored 11 of the team's 18 points, but was too little too late.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Gresko's 11 points and five rebounds in the fourth led her to Brandeis's team-high honors with 14 points and six boards total.
• Candela matched a career-high with nine points as she hit all three of her 3-point attempts.
• Three Judges had two assists, including junior Lulu Ohm (Waltham, Mass./Waltham), who also had three steals.
• CWRU was paced by Mya Hartjes, who scored 14 points to match Gresko for game-high honors, while Jordyn Call had 11 points off the bench, equaling Candela's three 3-pointers.
• Emily Plachta had six rebounds for the home team, while three other players had five boards as CWRU outrebounded the Judges, 40-31.
• The Spartans had a 30-20 advantage in points in the paint and 18-14 in points off turnovers, despite committing one more miscue (16-15).
• Case Western Reserve was also excellent from the line, outscoring Brandeis, 16-7, and outshooting the Judges, 88% (16-18) to 70% (7-10).

UP NEXT

• After playing their first three UAA games on the road, the Judges play their next four at home, starting with the University of Chicago on Friday, Jan. 19, at 5:30 p.m.