Center Caitlin Malcolm '07 may have cemented her legacy in the Brandeis record books Sunday, but guard Jamie Capra '08 showed why she has been the team's driving force offensively this season. In the women's basketball team's 65-49 win against the University of Rochester, the sixth-ranked team in the country, Capra scored a career-high 31 points and pulled down a season-high 12 rebounds, while Malcolm, with 12 points, became Brandeis' all-time leading scorer with 1,355 career points.

"I knew that I had to keep going to the basket and not rely on Caitlin for all of our offense, because the Rochester coach knew how to play against her," Capra said.

Malcolm led the Judges in scoring for two straight seasons before this year, as Capra has paced the team with 15.7 points per game, compared with Malcolm's 11.6.

The Judges also scored a 72-48 win Friday at home against Carnegie Mellon University. With the season winding to a close and the Judges tied for third place in the University Athletic Association with a 7-4 record, each game has heavy implications for the team's hopes of earning an NCAA tournament bid for the second year in a row.

"Each game at this point is really, really important," coach Carol Simon said. "This is a very big win for us. Rochester is an excellent team."

The Judges led by four at halftime Sunday, but Capra exploded for 22 second-half points to push the Brandeis lead to as much as 21. She shot 45 percent from the field in posting the fifth double-double of her career.

The first half saw stingy defense on both sides, as the Judges forced Rochester into 32 percent shooting from the field and caused 12 turnovers, whilethe Yellowjackets locked down on Malcolm in the post and forced her to shoot 1-8 from the floor.

"Rochester has the best defensive players in the league by far," Malcolm said.

But Brandeis stormed into the second half and made some key adjustments to overcome the Yellowjackets' defense. Simon explained that the Judges needed better play out of their guards in order to free up the post players.

"In the first half, [Rochester] did a great job on our posts, but once our guards started scoring they had to play up a little bit more, and that opened things up for [Malcolm] and the rest of the posts," Simon said.

Capra's dominance alleviated the pressure on Malcolm, who met less defensive attention down low in the second half and ended up shooting 40 percent for the game.

The most memorable shot for Malcolm was one she made with 10 minutes, 39 seconds left in the game, nailing a jumper from the top of the key to break Rachel Perry's '92 scoring record. The fact that Malcolm accomplished this feat on senior day and in the final home game of her career only added to the significance of the moment, she said. But Malcolm, in the former league MVP's typical fashion, was quick to point to her teammates.

"[Breaking the scoring record] is a really great accomplishment of mine and it was really special to do it on senior day," Malcolm said. "[However], my teammates are the ones who give me the ball and trust me, so I give them the biggest thanks."

Capra also gave a strong performance in Friday's win over Carnegie Mellon, scoring 16 points. Rookie guard Jessica Chapin '10 led all scorers with 21 points on 78 percent shooting from the floor, including a 3-5 clip from three-point range.

Although the Judges defeated the No. 6 team in the nation by a decisive 16-point margin Sunday, they know the victory is not an automatic ticket to the NCAA tournament. They head into their next three games-all against UAA opponents on the road-believing that they cannot lose if they want to play on the biggest stage.

"[The NCAA tournament] has been our goal from day one," Simon said. "We're in a position where we can take care of our own business, but the season's far from over."

The Judges begin their season-ending road slate this week with games against Emory University 6 p.m. Friday and Case Western Reserve University 2 p.m. Sunday.