The women's basketball team continued its roller-coaster ride of a season, splitting its two games last week. The team lost last Tuesday to Emmanuel College 55-43 before notching a notable home victory against Daniel Webster College last Saturday by a margin of 75-59. With the win, the Judges ended a two-game slide, evening their record at 4-4.

In the first quarter of Saturday's game, the Judges were in big trouble. Daniel Webster raced to a 29-17 lead more than 11 minutes into the game, making seven of its first 10 three-point attempts. Brandeis' offense also seemed out of sync with many sloppy passes and a failure to play lockdown defense. However, after a timeout by coach Carol Simon, Brandeis pulled itself together and bolted ahead with a 21-6 run to end the half.

"We picked up the intensity. … We started pushing the ball more and running the plays we needed to on offense," said guard Morgan Kendrew '12.

The defense also turned it around, as the Judges held Daniel Webster to 2-13 shooting, including 0-5 from inside the arc and 2-8 from deep. Led by four rebounds from Kendrew after the time-out, the Judges also owned a 13-7 rebound advantage during the rest of the half.

With two minutes, 37 seconds left, the Judges regained the lead after back-to-back three-pointers by guard Janelle Rodriguez '14 and guard Dianna Cincotta '11, MA '12. Guard Hannah Cain '15 closed the half with a three-pointer that gave the Judges a 38-35 lead into the break. Center Samantha Anderson '13 led the Judges at the half with eight points and eight rebounds.

Four minutes into the the second half, Daniel Webster clawed back to tie the game one last time. Then Brandeis went on a 10-1 run, led by six points from Kendrew. Her jumper after a well-timed outlet pass from sophomore Kasey Dean '14 made it a 51-42 game. Daniel Webster didn't give up that easily, fighting back with four straight points to pull within 51-46 with 10:29 to go.

The Judges then put the game out of reach, draining two field goals in the next 10 minutes. Cincotta scored eight straight Brandeis points during one stretch, pushing Brandeis to a season-high 21-point lead late in the game. Daniel Webster would end the game with two late buckets to seal the final 75-59 margin. Despite excellent three-point shooting in the first half, Daniel Webster hit only three of 11 three-pointers in the second half.

Cincotta scored 14 of her career-high 20 points in the second half. After shooting 2-9 overall in the first half, she hit 5-10 shots from the field and 3-7 from three-point range after the break. The 20-point performance marked the Judges' highest individual point total of the season.

"[Cincotta] started to get on fire with her shots. It was great," says Kendrew.

Anderson also had a career night, scoring 10 points and a career-high 15 rebounds for her first collegiate double-double. Nine of her rebounds were offensive rebounds. Brandeis dominated the boards 53-25, with 25 of those rebounds on the offensive end, contributing to a 25-2 Brandeis advantage in second chance points.

Kendrew had a strong night as well, finishing with 10 points and seven rebounds, while guard Kelly Ethier '12 and Cain led Brandeis with six assists each. The Judges blocked eight shots, led by three blocked shots from Courtney Ness '13.

Last Tuesday, Brandeis struggled offensively, digging itself into a huge hole against Endicott right off the bat, trailing 14-1 in the first half. At one point, the Judges were down by an alarming 22-3 score. Able to claw their way back to a 10-point deficit at the half, Brandeis was looking to rebound in the second half.

For the first five minutes, the Judges did just that, pulling within 29-24. However, after that, Emmanuel's offense completely took over, quickly putting the game out of Brandeis' reach. The Judges only shot 15-65 from the field and were also out-rebounded 59-44 in the 55-43 loss. The defeat marked Brandeis' first losing streak of the season.

Forward Shannon Hassan '12 led the team with 14 points and eight rebounds. Ethier contributed 10 points, while Anderson also picked up 12 rebounds.

Brandeis returns to action on Saturday with a non-conference game away against Roger Williams University at 1 p.m.