On Sunday, the Brandeis women's basketball team picked up their second UAA road win of the season with an impressive 72-62 victory over the University of Chicago.Center Danielle Fitzpatrick '04 led the way for the Judges at the hostile Henry Crown Field House. The junior pumped in 18 of her game-high 22 points in the first half, as the Judges (10-7 overall, 3-4 in UAA play) opened up a 40-34 halftime lead.

Brandeis continued its mastery of the host Maroons in the second half. The Judges, who also enjoyed strong performances from guard Lisa Pritzlaff '05 (19 points) and forward Audra Lissell '04 (13 points), came out strong in the second half with a decisive 14-5 run.

Chicago was led by freshman forward Susan Gutowski (a Northampton, Mass. native), who scored a career-high 20 points.

"They match up well with us and we played real tough against them," said Fitzpatrick, "Coming off the game against WashU, we knew that if we played as intense as we did against them we could compete with any team."

"When we come to play we are a very good team," she added, "So we need to put our all into every game, 110%. Turnovers have been the main problem for us."

The Chicago win followed a disappointing loss Friday when the Judges traveled to St. Louis to face as dominant a team as the Division III ranks have to offer. Washington University (17-0, 6-0 UAA) boasts the longest consecutive win streak in women's basketball history and has won four national championships in the past seven years.

True to form, the host Bears defeated the Judges by 23 (93-70), but Brandeis didn't go down without a dogged fight. The Judges managed to go into halftime facing a mere three-point deficit thanks to their field-goal accuracy and all-out hustle.

Brandeis converted on 16 of 31 shot attempts (51.6%), including six of 11 from long range (54.5%). WashU kept it close by capitalizing on ten of 13 from the charity stripe, while the Judges were unable to get some crucial calls from the zebras.

The Bears came out with a vengeance in the second half, as star guard Lesley Hawley poured in 23 points (including two trifectas). Kelly Manning provided much-needed assistance off the bench with 16 points in 22 minutes of play.

On Tuesday, the Judges dropped a two-point heartbreaker (62-60) to Babson College at Auerbach Arena. During a wild second half that featured five ties and five lead changes, Brandeis trailed by as many as six points (36-30) with 15:45 left in regulation.

The Judges made a valiant comeback attempt, as they scored 11 straight points thanks to two crucial treys from guard Amanda DeMartino '06 (she finished the game with 10 points in a grueling 38 minutes of play).

Babson prevailed when senior guard Joanna Maher hit a running lay-up with 5.6 seconds left in regulation.

Brandeis was led by Fitzpatrick, who scored 18 points on eight of nine field-goal shooting.

The junior center knows what her teammates are up against when they face WashU again on Sunday. "It's going to be tough, because they're all strong and quick and very good.