Although it was not what they had hoped for, it was a championship nonetheless. The women's basketball team easily defended its Eastern College Athletic Conference New England title with a 91-65 rout of No. 3-seeded Fitchburg State College at Red Auerbach Arena on Saturday. Caitlin Malcolm '07 was named the tournament's most valuable player as the top-seeded Judges won three games in four days on the road to their second consecutive ECAC title."It's a tremendous accomplishment," Coach Carol Simon said. "To be able to go and win back-to-back championships and to lose only nine games in two years against the competition that we play, it's just a tribute to our players who come in and work hard everyday."

Brandeis cut the nets only a week after a crushing 60-47 loss at New York University that kept the Judges out of the NCAA tournament. Despite narrowly missing NCAA postseason play for the second straight year, Brandeis set the school record for wins in a season, finishing 23-4 overall with a 10-4 record in the UAA.

"There are only two championships you can win and we won one of them," Malcolm said. "We knew we couldnt hang our heads after not getting the [NCAA tournament] bid, but we just wanted to come in and kick some ass like last year and we did and we had fun."

Five Judges scored in double figures as Malcolm finished off a stellar season with her eighth double-double of the year, recording 15 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. UAA Rookie of the Year Jaime Capra '08 chipped in with 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Christine Clancy '06 had 15 points and Amanda DeMartino '06 had 11.

Captain Emily Malkin '05 was solid in her last game at Brandeis with five assists and three steals, and captain Catherine Brady '05 closed out her career with a late-game flurry of four three-pointers in three minutes.

The Judges got off to a quick start. DeMartino recorded the first five points of the game, and Brandeis was in control with an early 12-7 lead after only five minutes.

Fitchburg fought back with an impressive seven points in just under 90 seconds to take a two-point advantage with 14 minutes left in the first half. The teams continued to battle through five lead changes in the next eight minutes until Courtney Tremblay '08 hit a three-pointer to give Brandeis the lead for good. The Judges continued to pound Fitchburg and headed into the break in front of the Falcons 42-34. Brandeis continued to dominate, holding Fitchburg to just one free throw in the first five minutes of the second half and went on a 15-1 run to extend their lead to 23 points. The celebration began well before the game ended.

The Judges reached the ECAC title game with a 64-40 quarterfinal victory over Western New England College on Wednesday and an 83-70 win against Norwich University in the semifinal game on Friday.

Capra led all players in the quarterfinal game with 19 points while Christine Clancy '06 grabbed eight rebounds. Malcolm led the team in the semifinal game with 21 points and six rebounds.

The Judges began the season with a 14-game winning streak and quickly climbed the national rankings to No. 3, but sputtered in their early conference schedule and needed to win their regular season finale to clinch the NCAA tournament bid that eluded them last season. But a devastating 60-47 loss to New York University on Feb. 26 knocked the then UAA-leading Judges out of first place in the conference and dashed the team's NCAA tournament dreams.

"It was definitely disappointing," Malkin said of the loss. "But we still had the opportunity to go out with a championship so we wanted to make the most of it."

The Judges never led in their disappointing loss. NYU came out strong and took a commanding 19-7 lead with under eight minutes left in the first half and Brandeis was never able to recover.

The Judges shot a dismal 23 percent in the game and were out-rebounded 54-36. Clancy was the only Brandeis player to score in double figures, recording 11 points.

"NYU just stepped it up," Simon said. "They were very physical with us on ball and off ball. We didn't hit a lot of easy shots."

Despite falling short of their NCAA tournament berth goal, the Judges had a season that included the coaching staff being named UAA Staff of the Year, a 19-game winning streak dating back to last season, an appearance by Malcolm in Sports Illustrated and a surprising breakout year by Capra.

"The experience of making it to the NCAA's would have been enough even if we got knocked out in the first round," Brady said. "But making the ECAC's and winning the title is not anything to be looked down upon."

The Judges will lose Malkin and Brady, but their core of Malcolm, DeMartino, Capra, Clancy and Basia Grzyb '07 is intact.

"It's going to be hard, especially to fill Emily and Cat's shoes, but we're definitely looking forward to it," DeMartino said.