It took a late rally for the women's basketball team to even make it out of the first round of the NCAA Tournament last Friday. It did not take very long for the Judges to make it past the second round the next day.The Judges capitalized on their home-court advantage, taking a 16-2 lead 5 minutes, 30 seconds into their second-round contest against Mount Saint Mary's last Saturday, turning the hot start into a 79-52 win. The win came after the Judges rallied from a 10-point, second-half deficit to top Western Connecticut State University 62-49 last Friday.

The Judges will play in the third round for the first time in school history this Friday against No.18 Muhlenberg College at Amherst College.

"I think the great thing early [was] planting a lot of doubt in [Mount Saint Mary] and put a team that honestly hasn't been in that position," assistant coach Scott Foulis told reporters after the second-round game. "[Mount Saint Mary's players] haven't been in that situation in a long time so I think it was just a testament to how ready our kids were to play, and we were able to come out of the gate and really put pressure in every phase of the game, both ends of the floor early."

The win was especially sweet for senior forwards Lauren Orlando, Cassidy Dadaos and Amanda Wells, as well as injured guard Lauren Goyette '09. They had been a part of three straight second-round defeats in their college career, as the Judges lost to Bowdoin College in 2006, Emmanuel College in 2007 and Kean University last season.

"It's a really surreal feeling, it's really exciting," Wells told reporters after the game. "It almost doesn't feel real. We're winning, we're up by 20, [and I thought 'Is this really happening?'"

"We've had our hearts broken before," Orlando added.

After coming from behind in their last two NCAA Tournament wins-against Western Connecticut State last Friday and against the University of Southern Maine in a 74-71 first-round win last season-Brandeis built up a 39-23 lead at halftime by shooting 53.6 percent from the field against Mount St. Mary's, who entered the game holding opponents to the lowest field goal percentage in all of Division III. For the game, the Judges shot 55.3 percent while holding the Blue Knights to just 34.5-percent shooting, including a mere 3-of-22 from the three-point line.

"We know we played a fairly weak conference," Mount St. Mary coach J. Randall Ognibene told reporters after the game. "We're not the best defensive team in the nation, no matter what the stats say, and we knew that going in . We were outgunned physically and Brandeis had a hell of a hot night, so that combination makes me want the 40 minutes to go quickly."

Brandeis also dominated the boards, grabbing 26 defensive rebounds and outrebounding the Knights 37-29. Mt. St. Mary's was outrebounding opponents by 10.9 rebounds per game prior to the game, fifth-best in Division III.

Guard Jessica Chapin '09 led all scorers with 18 points and seven assists, while guard Kelly Ethier '12 scored a career-high 13 points off the bench. Fellow rookie guard Morgan Kendrew '12 was the third Judges' player to score in double-figures, tallying 12 point, hitting three of her four three-point field goal attempts. Reserve forward Amber Strodthoff '11 had a game-high eight rebounds, including four offensive boards. Strodthoff and Ethier helped lead a Brandeis bench attack that outscored the Blue Knights' bench 25-10.

Last Friday night the Judges fell behind 40-30 with 13 minutes, 9 seconds left in their first-round game against Western Connecticut. The Judges slowly chipped away at Western Connecticut State's lead, tying the game on a layup by guard Diana Cincotta '11 with 9:05 left to play. They later took the lead for good on a Cincotta jumper with 7:21 left. Orlando scored all 15 of her points in the second half to help spark the comeback.

Coach Carol Simon said the Judges' comeback was also aided by keeping Western Connectict off the free throw line. Of Western Connecticut's 46 shots, 30 came from beyond the three-point line.

"In the first half, out of 22 [Western Connecticut] points, 12 of those were on the free throw line," Simon told reporters after the game. "Some of those were us just being a little over-aggressive. That's when we had to say kind of just amp yourself down a little bit."

Next up the Judges will travel to Amherst College for a third-round matchup with No. 18 Muhlenberg College Friday night. The Mules, who are 26-3, went undefeated in the Centennial Conference tournament to secure an automatic NCAA Tournament bid. They upset Bowdoin College 58-57 on Bowdoin's home court in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last Saturday. Muhlenberg is also strong defensively, allowing opponents to shoot just 25.6 percent from three-point range and 35.9 percent overall.