Brandeis kicked off the women’s basketball season on Friday, Nov. 7 with an evening game against the Regis College Pride at home as part of the Brandeis Invitational presented by the Park Lodge Hotel Group. Regis and Brandeis along with the Swarthmore College Garnet and New York University Violets took part in the invitational that wrapped up on Saturday with Brandeis finishing with a 2-0-0 record.

Regis got on the board first with two consecutive baskets. After trading two-pointers to bring the game to 6-2, the Judges went on a 9-0 run to take the lead, and never relinquished it. The Judges never stepped off the gas, being in the lead by just seven points after the first quarter, but extended their lead to 17 by halftime. Ava Skladanowski ’28 capped the first half off with a buzzer-beating three points to keep momentum for the Judges. Brandeis kept the run going in the third quarter, outscoring Regis 23-14. After a quieter fourth quarter from both teams, the Judges finished their season with a resounding 80-53 victory.

Brandeis’ win can partially be attributed to a dominant rebounding performance, grabbing 64 boards compared to just 29 for Regis. Maya Williams ’26 led the game with 16 rebounds, closely followed by Katherine Vaughan ’26 with ten as part of her fourth career double-double. Vaughan also made Judges history, becoming the first player in women’s basketball history to clear 100 career blocked shots, having already cemented herself as the career leader in rejections in her junior season. Vaughan finished the game with four blocks, setting her career mark at 101.

However, the Judges did struggle with turnovers, giving the ball up 21 times compared to only 13 from the Pride. Aside from that, the Judges played solid defense all game. The Judges’ defense held the Pride to just 31.4% from the field as well as 16.7% from three, which proved to be enough to compensate for the lack of takeaways. Overall, the Judges’ offense could prove to be the most important takeaway from the opener. Even though no single player scored more than 13 points, six Judges finished the game with double-digit scoring performances. Having as many scoring threats as the Judges have could prove valuable against future opponents with particularly strong defenses.

The Judges finished the invitational off with a 58-51 comeback win against Swarthmore, with Abby Kennedy ’26 leading the game in scoring, putting up 23 points on 9-16 shooting. Swarthmore held the lead after a big 24-point second quarter, but eventually fell behind after the Judges outscored the Garnet 18-8 in the fourth quarter. Katherine Vaughan led the late-game rally with 14 points, singlehandedly outscoring the entire Swarthmore team in the last ten minutes. The defense stepped up in the final minutes as well, with the Garnet shooting 0-8 with two turnovers in the final four minutes of the game.

Ultimately, the reigning DIII Champion NYU Violets were the most impressive team at the invitational, annihilating Swarthmore 108-49 on Friday and Regis 114-35 on Saturday. 

Following the Brandeis Invitational, the Judges sit at a comfortable 2-0 record ahead of their Nov. 13 matchup at home against Rhode Island College, which will be at 6 p.m.at the Auerbach Center.