With 1 minute, 2 seconds remaining in the women's basketball team's final regular season home game against Case Western Reserve University last Sunday, head coach Carol Simon called a time-out despite the fact that her team was leading by 22 points. Simon made a substitution, putting in guard Lauren Goyete '09 to inbound the ball. It was Goyette's first game action all year, having missed the Judges' previous 23 games this season. "It was kind of bittersweet," Goyette said. "I haven't had a chance to play all season because of injury. But it was nice of [coach] Carol [Simon] to put me in and all my teammates to support me."

Goyette's teammates helped make sure that she and the three other seniors on the team-starting forwards Lauren Orlando '09 and Cassidy Dadaos '09 and reserve forward Amanda Wells '09-went out on a high note on Senior Day at Red Auerbach Arena.

The Judges defeated Case Western 76-56 to move to 17-6 and 7-6 in the University Athletic Association, putting the team back into the d3hoops.com top-25 poll at No. 25. Brandeis has now won four in a row, including a 52-50 win Feb. 15 at then-No. 2 University of Rochester and last Friday's 67-57 win over Emory University.

The team's recent four-game winning streak has greatly helped the Judges' chances of getting an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament in March. Despite their six losses, the Judges are currently ranked third in the Northeast Region thanks to their difficult strength of schedule. According to d3hoops.com, they have the highest opponents' winning percentage in Division III through last Friday's games.

"Right now if the season were to end today, I would say yes, we probably should be in the tournament, but I'm not on the committee, and I don't make those decisions," Simon said.

The Judges' game against Case Western got off to a slow start, with both teams committing early turnovers. Brandeis struck first on a steal and breakaway layup by guard Jessica Chapin '10 just under two minutes into the contest. The teams then traded shots, resulting in Case Western taking an 11-10 lead with 11:59 left in the first half.

Brandeis then took control of the game, going on a 19-3 run to take a 29-14 lead with 5:12 left in the half. Rookie guard Morgan Kendrew '12, who has seen more playing time since starting guard Lauren Rashford '10 went down with a torn ACL in her knee during practice Feb. 3, scored eight of the Judges' points during this run.

"[Kendrew] has really been picking up and making plays for us, as has [guard] Diana [Cincotta] '11," Orlando said. "We're a little bit shorthanded in that at the guard position we do have some injuries, but people have really been stepping up and making big plays and understanding what we need to do."

The Judges led by 18 at the half and by as much as 33 in the second half before cruising to the 20-point win.

Chapin led all scorers with 17 points and also had team highs with 10 rebounds and six assists, earning UAA women's basketball player of the week honors.

Kendrew and Orlando also reached double figures for Brandeis, scoring 15 and 11 points, respectively.

Brandeis was also strong defensively, holding the Spartans to 38.9 percent shooting, including 27.8 percent from three-point range.

"They did a lot of switching on defense, which I think caught us off-guard at first," Case Western coach Jennifer Remier said. "When we would set screens they would just exchange us rather than fighting through our screens."

Last Friday, Brandeis avenged a Jan. 25 loss at Emory University with a 10-point victory over the Eagles at home.

Chapin led the team again with 15 points, eight rebounds, five assists and five steals. Kendrew was second on the team with 12 points, followed by Cincotta with 10.

"One of our goals was to make sure that we took away their transitions and kept their offensive boards," Simon said. "The transition defense we did really well. I also thought we did a really good job taking away their dribble penetration into the paint. So I thought defensively that was the key, and I thought we were pretty disciplined offensively running our stuff."

The Judges will conclude their regular-season schedule next Saturday at No. 20 New York University at 2 p.m.