When the women's basketball team embarked on last weekend's road trip against Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Chicago, it did so as a first-place team in the University Athletic Association. Now, after two losses, the Judges find themselves squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble.In yet another instance of not being able to hold onto a first-half lead, the Judges let last Sunday's game at Chicago slip away during the second half, eventually losing 62-55. The loss, which followed a 74-56 defeat at No. 23 Wash U last Friday, dropped Brandeis to 17-7 and 8-5 in the UAA, with just a home game Saturday against New York University left in the regular season.

If the Judges defeat NYU, they would match last season's 9-5 mark in the UAA, which was good enough to earn an at-large bid to last year's the NCAA Tournament. But while last year's squad, did not suffer any non-conference losses, this year's team dropped games to Kenyon College Nov. 17 and Tufts University Nov. 25. Still, the Judges have a chance at a berth thanks to their strength of schedule, as their opponents' winning percentage of .622 ranks sixth among NCAA hopefuls, according to D3hoops.com.

"We still have a chance to make NCAA's," forward Lauren Orlando '09 said. "It comes down to Saturday afternoon when we play, and I think everyone's going to be determined to win and try to get the bid."

Last Sunday's loss to Chicago was the third time the Judges lost when leading at halftime in conference play, as it also happened in defeats against NYU Jan. 12 and Emory University Feb. 8. After the Maroons jumped ahead 8-2 in the first four minutes of the first half, a 13-point run by the Judges gave them a seven-point lead with over 10 minutes left in the period. Reserve guard Lauren Rashford '10, Carmela Breslin '10 and Courtney Tremblay '08 combined for 10 points off the bench during the stretch.

The Maroons countered the attack with an eight-point run of their own, capped by senior guard Nofi Mojidi's layup with five minutes, 57 seconds left in the first half, giving them a 16-15 lead. Mojidi finished with a game-high 14 points.

"Nofi Mojidi is extremely fast," forward Cassidy Dadaos '09 said. "She was definitely one of the keys that we needed to try and keep track of, and that was a team effort. Not one girl can stop someone that fast."

The Judges closed the first half with a 13-4 run to take a 28-20 lead at halftime. Guard and co-captain Jaime Capra '08 and Breslin combined for eight points over the stretch, but Dadaos saw a Judges' offense that was having trouble sustaining momentum.

"I think that overall we had a little trouble finding any continuity to our offense, and that kind of transferred into a back and forth kind of a game that ended up not going in our direction in that last 20-minute period," Dadaos said.

While the offense nearly matched its first-half point total in the second half despite shooting just 24 percent in the second half, the defense, after holding the Maroons to just 20 points in the first half, gave up 42 points in the second half, proving to be the difference in the final outcome.

Back-to-back layups by rookie guard Dana Kaplan with 10:18 remaining gave the Maroons their first advantage in almost 16 minutes, but the Judges temporarily regained a 42-38 lead with 9:26 left after five straight points from Capra and Rashford.

That lead, however, was short-lived. After Kaplan answered with a three-pointer on Chicago's next possession, Capra missed a jumper after grabbing an offensive rebound and Maroons' rookie forward Karly Kasper hit a jumper with 8:16 remaining to give Chicago a lead they wouldn't relinquish the rest of the game.

"They kind of got the breaks when they needed them, or they'd end up under the basket with a look," Dadaos said. "[We had] a couple breakdowns; we didn't box out on a couple possessions, so they ended up with the ball right under the basket. Just a few little things like that [cost us]-I mean, it was a couple-possession game, and so if things had swung the other way, it could have been a very different story."

Last Friday, Wash U snapped the Judges' three-game winning streak and won 74-56, avenging its 66-48 loss to the Judges Jan. 27. Brandeis' only lead came less than three minutes into the game, as Wash U controlled the contest. The Judges shot just 34 percent from the field, including 19 percent in the second half, compared to 65 percent by Wash U.

"They were just making everything," forward Lauren Orlando '09 said.

Three Wash U players scored in double figures, led by sophomore Janet Evans, who had 14 points to go along with 13 rebounds. The Bears also made 11 of their 15 three-pointers in the win.

"It makes it very hard to defend when a team is shooting that well," Dadaos said. "All of their weapons were really going. They were rebounding well, we weren't boxing out, and I think they were seven for nine from three [point range] in the first half, and that's tough."

Capra once again led the way for the Judges with 14 points, and Orlando added 13 points and a team-high six rebounds in the loss.

The Judges play NYU Saturday at home at 1 p.m. in their last chance to make their case for an at-large NCAA Tournament bid. NYU is just 3-10 in the UAA after going undefeated in non-conference play, but one of those wins was a 57-47 victory over the Judges Jan. 12.