It was a desperate long shot from almost 40 feet out, so therewas little surprise when the ball went wide. With the women's basketball team's season in the small forward's hands, Jaime Capra '08 hoisted the ball from well beyond the three-point line.The buzzer sounded, and the Judges were defeated. But they were far from broken. And in a weird way, a loss had never tasted so sweet. Tears were few and far between.

In losing to Bowdoin College in the second round of the NCAA tournament in March, the Judges made history. The team had never made the Big Dance, coming tantalizingly close two seasons before.

And after they were eliminated last season, coach Carol Simon made it clear that dancing big was the new standard.

"When you get to the level where we are at right now, the ECACs aren't good enough anymore," Simon said after the game.

This season, with a slightly different cast of characters and an altered style of play, the Judges will try to raise the bar even higher.

"We want to go further into the tournament, and everyone is very competitive and pushing one another," Simon says. "We're a little more athletic, and it's going to be a different looking team than in the past."

Ranked No. 15 in the nation by d3hoops.com, the Judges return three starters from last year's team, including three-time all-UAA center and captain Caitlin Malcolm '07, all-conference guard Jaime Capra '08 and captain and guard Alison Chase '07. But the Judges lost two critical pieces at the helm and in the post, in former all-UAA point guard Amanda Demartino '06 and former all-UAA center Christine Clancy '06.

Simon will try to compensate for the loss in star power with increased depth, in what she says will be a more all-inclusive teameffort this season. Meanwhile, Malcolm emphasizes that the six incoming rookies, as well as several returning players who will see increased roles this season, will be crucial to success.

"In the past it seemed like we only had about seven people who could actually play, but this year everyone on the team is ready to go," Malcolm says. "We have a lot of good experienced players, and rookies who definitely want to play."

Malcolm's aggressive play inside was instrumental to the Judges' offense last season, as it has been her whole career here. She led the Judges in scoring and was second in the UAA with 16.5 points per game, while also pulling down 8.3 rebounds per game.

"[Malcolm] has to be mentally prepared for teams that will be gunning for her, but I think physically she can handle it," Simon says.

Capra and Chase's tenacious style on the perimeter also has been a key to the team's offensive and defensive success. Capra finished right behind Malcolm with 11.9 points per game last season, and Chase showed the ability to make clutch shots for the Judges while recording an impressive 29 steals.

"[Chase] is like that quiet killer, always hitting big shots in games," Simon says.

While Kiersten Holgash '08 will take over for DeMartino at the point, Simon will look to a plethora of players to fill Clancy's role.

Holgash's speed and quickness will force the Judges to adjusttheir game to a more up-tempo style (see profile, left), a pace the team believes will be more effective in combating opponents.

"Kiersten is a lot quicker than other point guards we've had in the past," Malcolm says. "She's looking to push the ball because that is the type of game [our opponents] play."

Filling Clancy's role will be much tougher.

"It's going to be by committee," Simon says. "With our depth, it will take a few people to replace [Clancy], which is a good thing. Between our veterans and [rookies], we have a strong rotation down in the post."

Two seasons in which the team fell short of making the NCAA tournament left players hungry, and finally tasting the Big Dance seems to only have made them hungrier.

"Our intensity level is so much higher than it's ever been in my four years," Malcolm says. "Everyone wants to be in the position to be in the last minute of a close game, knows how much the program has grown, and wants to build on that success."

Still, tough regional and conference competition stands in the way before the team can even fathom the postseason. While the Judges did receive an NCAA bid last year, they were unable to clinch a UAA title and the automatic bid that goes along with it, a goal players look to accomplish this season.

"Focusing on the NCAA is unrealistic at this point," Malcolm says. "Our first goal is to win our non-conference games and go on to become No. 1 in the UAA."

Simon also stresses the team's need to focus on its present task, rather than looking too far ahead.

"You can't underestimate anyone," Simon says. "The non-conference games are just as important as the UAA games. If we don't take it one day at a time, someone will catch us when we are looking ahead. Winning is not brain surgery, we try to keep it simple.