With 9 minutes, 6 seconds left in the first half of the then-No. 24 Brandeis women's basketball team's game at then-No. 17 Washington University, the Judges found themselves tied with the Bears after having led by as many as nine points earlier in the contest. The Judges then called a 30-second timeout in hopes of producing a solid possession, but on the ensuing play WashU junior forward Janice Evans stole the ball from Judges' guard Diana Cincotta '11 and scored a fast-break layup on the other end to give the Bears a 17-15 lead, their first of the contest.

WashU never trailed again and went on to win 71-56. This loss, coupled with the Judges' 63-50 loss at the University of Chicago last Friday night, dropped the Judges to 13-6 and 3-6 in the University Athletic Association.

The Judges have now lost four of their last five games, and their hopes of returning to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight season are dwindling. Brandeis dropped out of the latest d3hoops.com top-25 poll.

The Judges were without starting point guard Lauren Rashford '10 last weekend, who may miss the rest of the season after possibly tearing her ACL according to Coach Carol Simon (see sidebar, right).

"When you lose a starting point guard it's always a blow to the team emotionally, obviously," Simon said. "She's been leading the team, but we know as a team we need to step up. We control what we can control, and that's each player taking up minutes for her and doing what they need to do."

The Cincotta turnover was one of 18 for Brandeis. The Bears scored 27 points off the 18 Brandeis turnovers, while the Judges could only muster four points off nine WashU turnovers. WashU also had a 29-13 advantage in bench points.

"We had 18 turnovers, which against good teams is a little higher obviously than we want," Simon said. "We're trying to keep it under 14, but it's where those turnovers came [that hurt us]; a lot of them led to easy layups. "

Brandeis also struggled to stop Evans, who had a season-high 21 points, including 17 in the first half. Evans averaged just 6.2 points per game coming into the contest and had just four points in the Judges' 61-55 home loss to the Bears last weekend.

"[Evans] is just a tough player," Simon said. "In the first half she was just getting very deep into the paint and getting a lot of good opportunities to score a little bit. When she gets that deep, she's just very tough to stop."

The Judges got off to a quick start against WashU, going up 13-4 just over six-and-a-half minutes into the game. However, the Bears went on a 19-2 run to take a 23-15 lead with 6:17 left in the first half. Evans scored eight of the Bears' points during the run.

"We were hitting shots; the tempo was good," Simon said of the Judges' play early in the game. "Again, I thought we didn't do an awful job. When they go on their runs, those were coming off of turnovers. They were getting a lot more shot opportunities than we were."

The Judges later tied the game at 23, but the Bears answered with a 16-3 run to go up 38-26 at halftime.

A Chapin three-pointer pulled Brandeis within seven points at 43-36 with 16:43 left in the game, but the Judges could not get any closer as WashU pulled further ahead for the victory.

Chapin led the Judges with 18 points and five assists. Cincotta also reached double figures with 12 points, while reserve forward Amanda Wells '09 recorded her second career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds in the losing effort.

Last Friday, the Maroons avenged their loss at Brandeis Feb. 1 with a 63-50 victory over the Judges. Brandeis struggled from the field, shooting just 17-of-66 for the game, including just 7-of-28 from three-point range. The Judges' defense allowed the Maroons to shoot 43.9 percent from the field, including 64.7 percent in the first half.

The Judges next play at Carnegie Mellon University Friday at 6 p.m. and at No. 3 University of Rochester Sunday at 2 p.m.