With two more UAA wins in the book, the women's basketball team climbed in the UAA standings and bounced back to its winning ways. The Judges outlasted Case Western Reserve University 76-66 Friday before handling Emory University 75-57 on Sunday, rising to 14-2 and 5-2 in the UAA.In front of a bustling home crowd, the Judges came out strong against Emory, taking the lead just five minutes into the first half and never looking back on their way to a commanding victory over the Eagles (12-6). The home team headed into the locker room with a comfortable 38-22 lead behind the play of Caitlin Malcolm's '07 17 points and 13 points apiece by Christine Clancy '06 and Jaime Capra '08.

Brandeis dominated the boards 35-25 as Clancy led the team with six rebounds, while Capra and Lauren Orlando '09 each pulled down four.

Coach Carol Simon said that she was pleased with the way the Judges kept the pressure on in the second half.

"We did a really good job maintaining what we built up in the first half," Simon said. "Our overall game was very good, we shot well and we didn't let them back in the game."

Malcolm agreed, and said the game is an example of the way the team should play.

"A lot of people call us a first-half team," Malcolm said. "Today we put together both halves, we played a full 40 [minutes] of good basketball and we need to do that for the rest of the season."

After knocking off Emory, Brandeis, ranked No. 12 in the nation in the most recent D3hoops.com poll, is now in second place in the UAA due to a Washington University victory versus New York University on January 20. The team is now chasing Washington University in St. Louis for the conference lead, a team the Judges lost to on Jan 22, 83-66.

Before crushing the Eagles, the Judges hosted Case Western Reserve University Friday. Despite never trailing in the contest, the team did have some struggles in the second half after opening the game by holding Case to just 12 points in the first 10 minutes and went into halftime with a 43-25 lead.

The Judges almost managed to relinquish a 20-point lead in the second half after allowing a 19-5 Spartan run, closing the gap to 6 points with just over three minutes left.

"It was a good 20 minute game," Simon said. "We played extremely well the first 20, but I think we let down in the second half. But we got through it. It was good to see that we could pull it off, that we can weather a storm, even though we didn't play extremely well."

In the end, the Judges managed to hold off Case and take the game 76-66.

Capra said the second-half scare came due to a lack of effort on the Judges' part.

"We saw how well we played in the first half and we just settled in and expected them to give up," Capra said.

Putting together a consistently strong game is something that the Judges have struggled with recently. The Judges allowed Case to erase a 20-point lead in the second half Friday and gave up 55 points in a single half versus Washington University in St. Louis on Jan. 22. However, the team ran past Emory by playing two full halves, something they are excited about but say they realize they must continue.

"[Emory] was probably the best UAA game we've played all year," Capra said. "We dominated for both halves; we pounded it in and ended up with a big win."

In order to retain their position, however, the Judges will have to face the same foes on their home court. While they have already beat Emory once, the upcoming weekend will be a harder test for the Judges, who lost at Emory last year in a 61-59 decision, snapping their 18-game winning streak and causing them to slide in the national rankings.

"Anyone can knock you out," Simon said. "Some people call those games upsets, but I don't think there are any upsets. Anybody can beat anybody in this league. Obviously both teams are going to make adjustments over the next five days and we have to be ready for that."

The Judges head to Atlanta to take on Emory Friday at 6 p.m. before traveling to Cleveland to play Case Sunday at 3 p.m.