In two home games against conference rivals last weekend, the women's basketball team defeated Case Western Reserve University 81-64 Friday and Emory University 77-70 Sunday, raising their season record to 10-7 with a 3-4 record in University Athletic Association. Steve DeLuca '08 was the hero in both games, with a career high 28 points against Emory and 23 points against Case Western. "Coach [Brian Meehan] just gave me the green light on offense, my shot has been on and my team is feeding me the ball in good positions on the court," DeLuca said.

The forward, who leads his team in scoring with 17.4 points a game, shot 9-11 against Case Western Friday and 9-12 against Emory Sunday.

Meehan emphasized that this weekend was proof to him that DeLuca should be the centerpiece of the Judges offense.

"He's unselfish to the point where it hurts us at times," Meehan said. "We really want to get him 15 or 16 shots a game. He's been coming on more aggressively on offense lately, and I think the guys are starting to look to him a little bit more."

The match-up against Emory provided DeLuca with a chance to take on one of the top big men in the conference, the Eagles' six-foot-seven forward Eric Barvin, who scored 24 points against the Judges and nearly spoiled the Judges' victory Sunday.

But with 3:48 left in the game, DeLuca came out on top after forcing a foul on Barvin that led to the Emory forward leaving the game. After Barvin fouled out, DeLuca hit two free throws to give Brandeis a 67-66 lead, and later blocked a potential game-tying three-pointer with 1:42 remaining.

"Obviously [losing Barvin] affected us inside, but Brandeis did what they had to do, made their free throws and didn't want to give us a chance at the end," Emory coach Brett Zuver said.

The Judges led the game 38-33 at halftime behind their quickly paced offense and points coming after turnovers. But the Eagles were able to slow down the pace after halftime and go on a 7-2 run to start the second half, taking a 40-39 lead about two minutes into the period. The Judges took back the lead and held on with a pressure defense in the last minutes of the game.

"We just felt that if we got them running again, we would be able to get the pace of the game going our way," Meehan said.

The Judges missed only four of their 33 free throws Sunday, going to the line 21 times in the second half. Their accuracy compensated for their four missed three-point shots in the half.

With a small-bodied team that has struggled to find its offensive style, Meehan said that he was very pleased with how the Judges approached Sunday's game offensively and used that as a blueprint for how the Judges' offense should work.

"We aren't going to post up, but we still have to get to the rim, and we are doing it off the drive and off passing and cutting and when you do that you are going to get to the free-throw line," Meehan said.

In Friday's game, the Judges trailed Case Western by three points with about 14 minutes left, but went on a 10-0 run over the next three minutes and pulled away. They secured the win with a stalwart defensive effort, allowing just two field goals in the final six minutes.

"We just got really physical at the defensive end of the floor and didn't give them anything easy," Meehan said.

Stephen Hill '08, who has been the Judges' starting center since the conference games began, stepped up in that role last weekend with 14 points on Friday, followed by nine points and nine rebounds on Sunday.

"It took me a while to get into the flow, but it hasn't been too much of a big adjustment for me," Hill said.

The Judges are finally making progress in the UAA, where they started out 0-3 and have now won three of the last four games.

"We had three tough losses in a row in games that we might have been able to win," Meehan said. "I think we are doing a better job late in games, and I think we are finding our stride."

The Judges play next at home again Tuesday against Amherst College, followed by road rematches with Emory on Friday and Case Western Reserve on Sunday.