The women's basketball team is on fire, and poised to match the program's best start ever. Brandeis stayed undefeated as captain Catherine Brady '05 scored 20 points to lead a balanced offensive effort as the Judges routed visiting Babson College 86-48 on Saturday. Brandeis is 5-0 and ranked No. 16 in the nation by D3hoops.com. While the season is still quite young, Brandeis has already established itself as a top team in the region. Brady was only one of five Judges in double figures against the Beavers. Basia Gryzb '07 had a solid game off the bench with 18 points, Caitlin Malcolm '07 had 13, Amanda Demartino '06 scored 11 points and Christine Clancy '06 had 10. Brady scored her career high hitting five of seven 3-point shots. Malcolm and Clancy each grabbed a team-high eight rebounds while Demartino had a career-high nine assists.

The Judges led by just one point six minutes before the end of the first half, but fired off a 16-5 run just before the break, giving them a 37-25 halftime advantage over the Beavers. The team came out even stronger in the second half, shooting 56 percent and holding the Beavers to just 27 percent. Brandeis out-rebounded Babson 39-36, against a Beaver team well known for their capabilities on the boards.

"I think our intensity level was really key," Coach Carol Simon said. "Defensively, we did a really good job attacking them. I think we just got into a flow and it really came from our defense. When our defense is good and the team is feeling it and we're pushing the ball, we just get open shots."

The win against Babson was especially satisfying for the Judges, as three of their six post players were injured, which forced them to switch to a four-guard, one-post lineup.

"Unlike our other games where we've only chipped away and gotten six-point leads, this game we built the lead up and kept going," Brady said. "We never gave up, we just kept chipping away to try to build our lead up and we were successful."

"[Injuries] are forcing our guards to play in positions that they're not used to," captain Emily Malkin '05 said. "But it's also good that those people are getting experience."

Before routing the Beavers, the Judges defeated Wheaton College for their first road victory this season last Tuesday. Although the Judges did not shoot nearly as well versus the Lyons, they still managed to pull out the win. The two teams battled back and forth in a close and hard fought first half until the Judges broke out their tenacious full court press and took a 40-33 lead at halftime.

The Lyons rallied early in the second half but were silenced by five straight points from Gryzb. Wheaton pulled to within a basket late in the game, but the Judges finished off the Lyons in the last eight minutes, netting four straight field goals to capture the win 76-64. Gryzb's game-high 17 points paced the team while Jaime Capra '08 produced the only double-double of the game and her second of the season with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Demartino had a game high seven assists.

"We were extremely undisciplined and it was a struggle," Simon said. "It was not a very pretty win."

Regardless of the quality of victory, the Judges are playing with a great deal of confidence and have not lost since February of last season. While the team is extremely disciplined in its shooting and executes its offense in textbook fashion, it seems that it is really the defense coupled with the team's intensity and aggressiveness that account for the team's recent success.

"Usually it's the defense that comes before the offense," Malkin said. "We're really just trying to get into a flow offensively and that'll come as we start to spend more time playing together."

While they are undefeated, the Judges will need to be more aggressive on the glass as the competition gets more physical.

"Our rebounding needs to be more consistent, both offensively and defensively," Simon said. "I don't think we crash the offensive boards enough."

The Judges host Worcester Polytechnic Institute today at 6 p.m. before hosting Western New England College on Saturday at 1 p.m. in their last game before winter vacation.