In last Sunday's game against the Rhode Island College Anchorwomen, the Judges averaged nearly a turnover per minute in the first half, an issue that plagued the team all week long. The Judges fell to the Anchorwomen 66-49 in the championship game of the Brandeis Judges Classic after beating the Connecticut College Camels in the opening round.On Wednesday, the Judges dropped to 13th-ranked Babson College in overtime by a score of 62-59.

In Sunday's championship match, the Judges were pitted against an RIC team that had won its last two matchups by 61 and 16 points, respectively. The Judges were aggressive early on, but the Anchorwomen used a 15-0 run 5 minutes in to take a 19-9 lead. The Judges fought back again, but too many turnovers left them down 9 points at halftime.

In the first half, the team racked up an astonishing 19 miscues. Coach Carol Simon said that her team did a poor job of dealing with Rhode Island's pressure. "We didn't handle the pressure early at all," she said. "The first half we had 19 turnovers and we really didn't handle their zone very well. We were pretty much on our heels the whole time."

In the second half, the Judges opened with an 8-2 run, cutting the lead to 3, but that was as close as it would get, as the Anchorwomen would push the lead to 19 points and win the game by a 17-point margin. The Judges finished the game with 31 turnovers and gave up 35 points off turnovers.

Center/forward Courtney Ness '13 agreed that turnovers are something that the team needs to work on. "We need to just settle down and play our game and not let other teams take us out of our element, she said." Guard Kelly Ethier '12 added, "turnovers are something we are working on, learning how to take care of the ball."

The team was led by guard Morgan Kendrew '12 who scored 16 points and Ethier, who had 12. Forward Amber Strodthoff '11 had 4 points and led the team with nine rebounds, but she also had a team-high seven turnovers.

The women were much more in-control during their first round matchup against Connecticut College on Saturday. The Judges never trailed during the game and defeated the Camels 68-36.

The Camels kept it close through the first 9 minutes, but the Judges started to find their shot and reeled off 12 unanswered points to blow the game open. The women were ahead by double digits the rest of the way, and went into halftime with a commanding 34-13 lead.

Leading the Judges in scoring for the third straight game was Kendrew, who notched 11 points on the game. Rookie guard Janelle Rodriguez '14 added 9 points and had team highs with six rebounds and four steals. Strodthoff and Ethier each added 8 points for the Judges and rookie guard Julia Scanlon '14 led the team with seven assists off the bench and contributed three of the Judges' 36 total bench points, as many points as Conn College scored the entire game.

The Judges' defense held the Camels to just 24-percent shooting and forced 22 turnovers, while committing only 15, leading to a 21-2 scoring edge for Brandeis in points off of turnovers. The Judges also finished the game with more second-chance points, points in the paint and assists than Conn College.

The Judges began the week facing their first-ranked opponent of the year, no. 13 Babson College. The Judges led most of the way, but the Beavers forced overtime, and were able to pull out the win. For the first 39 1/2 minutes, the Judges never trailed, thanks to 9 first-half points from Strodthoff. The Beavers, though down 27-20 at halftime, were able to keep the game close thanks to 10 first-half points from sophomore center Sarah Collins.

Brandeis was able to maintain the lead throughout the second half, and found themselves up 8 points with just 4:30 remaining. Senior guard Becky Bowman began the comeback for Babson, drilling a 3-pointer and drawing a foul on the play. She completed the 4-point play, cutting the lead in half on just one possession. With 29 seconds left, Collins stole the ball and hit Bowman, who was fouled on the shot and went to the line for a 3-point play. Bowman hit the foul shot, putting the Judges behind 57-54. With time winding down, Kendrew used a top of the key screen from Strodthoff to nail a 3-ponter with just 2.8 seconds left to send the game to overtime.

In overtime, neither team scored until the Beavers capitalized on two free throws to go up by two with 1:57 left. Ethier tied the game at 59, but Babson junior Kathleen King hit the game winner with 1:15 left, putting the Beavers up 61-59. After an intentional foul, the Judges looked to hit a game-tying 3-pointer as time expired, but Ethier's 23-footer bounced off the rim.

The team was again led by Kendrew, who finished with 21 points, including 16 in the second half.

"She is an unbelievably talented all-around player, so she's hard to stop," Ness said. "Team's will be gunning for her all season, but so far, she done a great job continuing to step up."

Simon said that the team needs to work on controlling the tempo of the game. "We just need to get back to what we do," Simon said. "We need to learn from our mistakes, focus on taking care of the ball and not letting other teams dictate how we play."

The Judges (2-2) host Wellesley College tonight at 7:30 p.m.