When Cassie Loftus '08 sank a jump shot as the buzzer sounded to close the first half, the Judges trailed by only seven and seemed to be gaining momentum. Their recent shooting woes had continued throughout the first half against the University of Rochester, but the second half saw the women's basketball team struggle offensively like never before this season. Brandeis did not make a field goal for 17 minutes after Loftus' jumper, and finished making only one of 20 shots in the second half on their way to losing to the Yellowjackets 61-42 last Sunday.

With the loss coming after a 65-50 road win over Carnegie Mellon University on Friday, the Judges are 18-3, 8-3 in the UAA conference. Brandeis dropped to No. 15 in the new D3hoops.com national poll, and entered into a tie for first place in the UAA with Washington University.

"We went in just trying to play some tough defense and trying to get the ball inside," Christine Clancy '06 said. "But the bottom line is we were 1-20 in the second half from the field, and you can't win a game if you only make one field goal in the second half."

Clancy scored 16 points on two field goals and 12 free throws. The first half was closely contested, as neither team held a lead larger than six points until Rochester built up a nine point advantage heading into halftime.

The Judges were down five with 13:30 to go when Caitlin Malcolm '07 hit two free throws and Brady connected on two straight three-pointers, giving Brandeis a three-point lead with 11 minutes to go in the half, the team's last lead of the game.

"Our transition defense wasn't very good at all," Malcolm said. "I think we shot a little under 18 percent. That's not going to win us many games. Every game that we've lost we've shot under 18 percent so we know that's a problem."

The Judges missed their first eight shots from the field to start the second half, but still trailed by only 11 with 10 minutes left in the game. Solid defense kept the Judges in the game as they forced 25 turnovers but converted them into only 15 points.

The Judges never found an offensive rhythm except from the free throw line, with 18 of their 20 second-half points coming on free throws. After Clancy connected twice from the charity stripe to cut the lead to 41-31, Rochester responded with two free throws and then stole the ball for an easy lay-up and a 14-point lead with seven minutes remaining.

Clancy finally broke a 0-for-17 shooting drought with three minutes remaining and shaved the lead down to 10, but Yewllowjackets' junior guard Jessie Graham put the game out of reach for Brandeis with a three-pointer to make the score 55-42 with about two minutes left.

"It was just one of those games," captain Catherine Brady '05 said. "We just weren't all on the same page. We got beat a little bit on defense. We fixed it and played better defense in the second half, but the damage was already done. We just can't let this loss get to us. We have to turn around and win these next three games. We have to use it as motivation and learn from it."

Before losing to the Yellowjackets, the Judges beat Carnegie Mellon University 65-50 last Friday in Pittsburgh. Malcolm led the Judges with 26 points and 10 rebounds, making nine of 14 field-goal attempts and recording her sixth double-double of the season. Jaime Capra '08 and Clancy each chipped in with 11 points. Brandeis trailed only twice early in the game, and led by as many as 20 points. The Judges hit all 20 of their free throws, a season-high for Division III teams. Brandeis' defense picked up after a sluggish first half to force 29 turnovers.

Malcolm was on fire in the second half, scoring 19 of her 26 points after the break, and Brandeis began to pull away after she hit a lay-up to give the Judges a 51-41 lead with 8:42 left in the game.

Despite shooting worse from the field than the Tartans, the Judges never led by less than 10 points in the final eight minutes. Brandeis outscored Carnegie Mellon 30-16 in the paint and dominated second-chance points 15-4.

After losing their third game of the season, the Judges' wiggling room for a berth in the NCAA tournament is even smaller. The UAA champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament and Brandeis needs to continue to win to keep the pressure on Washington University. The Bears play last-place Carnegie Mellon on Friday.

"We don't look too much ahead, especially with NCAAs because that can easily be taken away from us if that's all we think about," Malcolm said. "[We need to] think about our next three games because they're all important for us if we want to control our own destiny.