WALTHAM, Mass. – For the fourth-straight game, the Brandeis University women's basketball team was in a tight contest after three quarters, but the Judges were unable to pull through in the fourth, falling to visiting Carnegie Mellon, 49-46, in a University Athletic Association contest in Red Auerbach Arena.

TEAM RECORDS

• Brandeis: 11-6, 1-5 UAA.
• Carnegie Mellon: 11-5, 3-2 UAA.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The contest featured seven lead changes and three ties.
• The first period was a back-and-forth affair. The Judges scored the game's first nine points to take the largest lead of the game. CMU answered with 12 of the next 14 to take their first lead of the game at 12-11 with 3:03 to go.
• The lead traded hands three times the rest of the way, with Brandeis taking a 15-14 lead into the second quarter after a back-door layup by senior Maya Williams (Redondo Beach, Calif./Redondo Union).
• The Judges scored the first five points of the second and eight of the first 10 to go back ahead by six after a 3-pointer by sophomore by sophomore Saviah Shabazz (Plano, Texas/Plano West), her second of the period, that made it 23-16 just over three minutes into the frame.
• That was the last field goal Brandeis would hit in the period, as CMU closed on a 12-2 run to take a 28-25 lead into the locker room. CMU's Savannah Gibbs had six of her team's 12 points in the run.
• Brandeis again started strong in the third, scoring the first two buckets to reclaim a 29-28 lead 85 seconds in as seniors Katherine Vaughan (Bedford, Mass./Bedford) and Claire Candela (Maynard, Mass./Milton Acad.) assisted each other on buckets.
• That lead would be Brandeis's last, though they kept within five points of the Tartans in the third, holding CMU without a field goal over the last 4:51. Candela hit a put-back off a missed free throw with less than five seconds left in the period to tie the game at 40-all.
• The defenses were stout in the fourth quarter, with only four field goals between the two teams. After a pair of Tartan free throws, Brandeis junior Sofia Berisha (Old Tappan, N.J./Winchendon School) hit a bucket to retie the game at 42.
• Carnegie Mellon scored the next four points on an offensive rebound Aleena Dinker and a steal and layup by Nicole Timko that made it 46-42 at the under-five media timeout.
• Brandeis grad student Elena Delicado (Madrid, Spain/IES Parque de Lisboa) hit a bucket with four minutes remaining to make it 46-44, Brandeis, but that was the last field goal of the game.
• After Shabazz hit a pair of free throws with 2:03 left to get Brandeis within 47-46, the Judges got several stops on defense, but they were unable to convert, as a couple of good looks failed to fall with about a minute to go.
• CMU's Timko hit a pair of free throws with 19 seconds on the clock, and after a timeout to move the ball to the front court, the Tartans' defense denied Brandeis a good look at a game-tying 3-pointer, allowing them to escape with the win.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Shabazz led the Judges in scoring for the first time since the season opener, scoring 16 points, 10 in the first half. She hit 4-of-8 from the field, 2-of-2 from 3-point range and 6-of-6 from the line.
• Senior Abby Kennedy (Half Moon Bay, Calif./Half Moon Bay) added nine points, while Vaughan had a team-high seven rebounds. Candela led the squad with three assists.
• CMU's Timko led all players with 21 points, while Gibbs had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
• Turnovers and rebounds were big key to the game, as CMU turned 19 Brandeis miscues into 19 points, while the Judges were only able to score two points of 16 Tartan errors.
• The visitors' 39-33 rebounding edge included 18-8 on the offensive boards, translating into a 13-6 advantage in second-chance points.

UP NEXT

• The Judges will close out the first half of UAA play on Sunday against Case Western Reserve at 11 a.m. – an hour earlier than originally scheduled.