On Sunday, the Brandeis University women's basketball team battled the number-one ranked Washington University Bears. While the Judges played a valiant first half of basketball, they were ultimately unable to sustain any momentum, and fell by 28 (91-63).The loss marked the second straight week that head coach Carol Simon's squad had gone into half time trailing heavily-favored WashU by just three.

Brandeis captain Jayne Wise '04 explained the team's second half woes. "We got out-rebounded, and they hit a lot of big shots," she said, "and a lot of three-pointers."

"It was a tough game," she added succinctly and with little regret. "They're the number-one team in the nation for division three. When you're playing the number one team in the nation, I wouldn't consider it to be a blowout loss."

After guard Lisa Pritzlaff '05 connected on the first basket of the second half to trim the Judges' defecit to one (42-41), WashU countered by scoring the next 11 points of the game.

WashU senior guard Laura Crowley led the way for the visitors. She hit three consecutive three-point field goals en route to a game-high 21 points. WashU, which features the deepest bench in all of Division III, enjoyed the stellar play of substitute Kelly Manning, as the freshman guard notched 15 points off the bench.

Despite the loss, highlights for the Judges came courtesy of Pritzlaff, who scored 20 points and grabbed a game-high seven rebounds, and captain Danielle Fitzpatrick '04, who added 18 points and four boards.

The Judges were far more successful on Friday night against another UAA rival, the University of Chicago. Brandeis defeated the visiting Maroons for the fourth straight time by a score of 76-61.

Fitzpatrick led the way with her second solid performance against Chicago with 22 points (she converted 8 of 11 from the field and six of eight from the free throw line).

The key stretch for the Judges came with 15 minutes left in the first half, when Brandeis went on an 11-0 run that illustrated the power of their front-court players. At the half, the Judges led 38-25, a lead that would expand to 21 midway through the second half. While Chicago responded with a 12-0 run of their own, Brandeis never allowed the Maroons to get the deficit below eight.

While her statistics don't stand out, point-guard Amanda DeMartino '06 was reliable all night for the Judges, playing an impressive 35 minutes during which she dished out seven assists and grabbed six rebounds.

This week, the Judges will face Carnegie Mellon University (Friday at 6 p.m.) and the University of Rochester (Sunday at 3 p.m.). Earlier in the season, the Judges defeated Carnegie Mellon and lost to Rochester

Brandeis forward Christine Clancy '06 isn't discouraged by the WashU loss and hopes the Judges and Bears can meet again in the postseason.

"The next five games that we have left are really important," she said, " and we need to move on and take each game one at a time, and hopefully we'll end up in the post-season."

"We should be fine as long as we win at least three of the next five games," Clancy continued, "but we're planning on taking them all and we should be able to."

During the previous matchup between Rochester and Brandeis on Jan. 10 (a 65-59 Yellowjackets victory), Pritzlaff led the Judges with 19 points in 33 minutes of play. The normally dependable frontcourt tandem of Clancy and Audra Lissell '04 shot a combined seven of 20 from the field.