With 12 minutes, 48 seconds remaining in second-half play, women's basketball guard Mia DePalo '11 knocked down a 3-pointer, assisted by guard Jessica Chapin '10, to give the team its first lead in 20 minutes at the University of Chicago on Sunday. Down 38-28 at halftime, the Judges briefly recuperated only to be bested by the Maroons' 74-61 victory. The loss drops the team's record to 8-5 overall and 1-2 in University Athletic Association conference play.Brandeis' guards dominated the offense as Diana Cincotta '11 led Brandeis with 16 points, three assists and three rebounds, while Morgan Kendrew '12 notched 15 points and three rebounds. DePalo pulled down a team-leading seven rebounds and contributed 9 points, and Lauren Rashford '10 netted 9 more.

Despite the poor result, Brandeis managed to improve on several parts of their game this weekend.

"We had a really great warm-up where everyone was really focused and excited for the game," said Cincotta in reference to the Judge's strong start.

Cincotta scored 8 of the squad's first 10 points within the opening 3 minutes of the game.

"But we were getting hurt in the post, and it took the team a while to figure out what options were open and what the defense was giving us," added DePalo.

Once the Judges analyzed the Maroon defense, Cincotta noted that the opportunities began to arise.

"At first we were a little shocked and tried to do too many things at once. . Too many one-on-ones got us into trouble," Cincotta said. "But Chicago was worried about our inside players and that opened up shots for our guards. And our posts recognized and capitalized on the weaknesses in the defense and started to kick the ball back out."

Kendrew found the team's greatest challenge against Chicago was a lack of aggression in rebounding. Brandeis' post players were outsized by the Chicago lineup.

"We just didn't find bodies [against Chicago]," Kendrew said. "We need to push [our opponents] out and not just hold them. We definitely got killed on the boards, so we're going to have to improve on offensive and defensive rebounding to be successful," she continued.

The Judges opened their second UAA road trip against third-ranked Washington University in St. Louis Friday night, where Coach Carol Simon's squad was defeated in a 67-57 battle.

Forward Amber Strodthoff '11 helped power the Judges' offense with 12 points and 11 rebounds, for her second double-double of the season.

Kendrew added five rebounds and matched Strodthoff's dozen points, while Rashford tallied 13 points.

Playing against "a team of that caliber is always a challenge," Rashfordsaid. We aren't satisfied with just playing well. They capitalize on our mistakes which makes every possession important."

Simon reaffirmed Rashford's remarks.

"In the first half there were about 3 minutes that WashU took control over," said Simon, referring to a 15-4 run by the Bears to close out the first half. "We had some breakdowns defensively and offensively; we had a few turnovers. We were only down 3 points, but [WashU was] opportunistic and turned a few mistakes into 12 points," Simon continued.

Still, Simon stressed the team's strong play in the second half. "The girls held [WashU] to 26 points [in the second half], and 4 of those points at the end were because of intentional fouling."

Overall, Simon believed her team "played hard and battled to the end of the game," showing intensity and drive.

Strodthoff saw the weekend as a learning experience.

"We need to try and take some positives out of [our losses]", she articulated. "We need to keep intensity, battle hard whether we're up by three or down by 10, and we need to keep running our offenses. Our team is trying to . work on our chemistry. We want to see more within the flow of our offense because sometimes that aextra pass can really open [the court] up.

The team will look to rebound when they face the University of Rochester at home Friday.