CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Brandeis University women's basketball team completed their most successful first semester since 2008 today with a 67-59 victory over MIT on the road in the Rockwell Cage.

TEAM RECORDS

• Brandeis, 9-1.
• MIT, 3-7.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Judges never trailed in this one, with the Engineers managing just one tie after the Judges scored the game's first eight points.
• Brandeis senior Abby Kennedy (Half Moon Bay, Calif./Half Moon Bay) drained a pair of 3-pointers within the first 90 seconds of the game to help build the early 8-0 lead.
• MIT closed back to within one point on a couple of occasions in the first, the latest at 16-15 on a Ruth Lanouette steal and lay-up with 3:27 left.
• The Judges responded with a 7-0 run to reestablish their eight-point lead on a pair of Katherine Vaughan (Bedford, Mass./Bedford) free throws before a late MIT bucket made it 23-17 after one.
• Kennedy had eight points in the first period, while MIT's Olivia Kennedy had nine.
• The teams played even through the next two quarters, with the second period tied at 12-all and the third at 17-all.
• Leading 35-29 at the break, Brandeis opened up their first double-digit lead on a Maya Williams (Redondo Beach, Calif./Redondo Union) put-back with 8:13 left in the period that made it 41-31.
• The Engineers responded with their best offensive stretch of the game, outscoring Brandeis 13-3 over the next four minutes, tying the contest at 44 on a bucket by Joseph with 3:37 to go in the third.
• They hit 5-of-8 overall from during the stretch, including 3-for-3 from beyond the arc.
• MIT had a couple of chances to go ahead, but could not convert, and Kennedy's floater with 2:25 on the clock gave the Judges the lead for good.
• Brandeis sophomore Jazzy Perez (Johns Creek, Ga./Centennial) scored six points for the Judges over the final 2:06 of the third to help reestablish the six-point lead headed into the final quarter, 52-46.
• The Judges held MIT to just one field goal over the first five-and-a-half minutes of the fourth.
• They reestablished their double-digit lead on a Perez 3-pointer with 4:33 remaining that made it 63-42, and held off the Engineers from there.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Kennedy led three Judges in double-digit scoring with 14 points. She hit 6-of-18 from the field, with a pair of 3-pointers.
• Perez netted 11 points, two shy of her career-best, in 19 minutes off the bench. She hit 4-of-6 from the field with a 3-pointer and 2-of-2 from the line. She outscored the MIT reserves on her own, as the Brandeis bench outpaced their hosts, 27-11.
• Vaughan added 10 points and six rebounds.
• Grad student Elena Delicado (Madrid, Spain/IES Parque de Lisboa) pulled down 10 rebounds to lead all players, helping the Judges to a 44-32 advantage on the boards. Six of her 10 caroms came on the offensive glass, where the Judges owned a 16-11 margin.
• Sophomore Saviah Shabazz (Plano, Texas/Plano West) tied her career-high with six assists, to go along with seven points and three steals.
• Thanks to their advantage in the frontcourt, Brandeis outscored MIT, 34-22, in the paint and 20-11 in second-chance points.
• MIT's Olivia Joseph led all scorers with 19 points, while Ruth Lanouette scored 14. Mary Lobon had 10 rebounds to match Delicado, while leading her team with five assists.
• The Judges' 9-1 start is their best after 10 games since winning their first 10 during the 2008-09 season. It's tied for the fourth-best start in program history.

UP NEXT

• Brandeis is off until next semester, when they will wrap up their non-conference schedule at Wheaton College on January 6^th at 6 p.m., before hosting top-ranked NYU on January 10^th at 3 p.m. in their University Athletic Association opener.