With 7 minutes, 44 seconds left in last Saturday's women's basketball home game against rival No. 13 New York University, the No. 7 Judges found themselves down by nine points, a difference that almost equaled the disparity in fouls called against each team.At that moment, Brandeis was called for its tenth team foul, enabling NYU to shoot two free throws every time the Judges committed a foul for the rest of the game. The Violets had only been called for three fouls up until that point.

The difference helped NYU expand on its three-point halftime lead and ultimately defeat the Judges 61-49. The loss dropped Brandeis to 11-2, including 1-2 in the University Athletic Association.

"We ended up in the double bonus way too early," assistant coach Scott Foulis said. "When you're playing from behind, [that's] not a place you want to be."

For the game, NYU attempted 31 free throws, including 22 in the second half, while the Judges shot a total of seven, with just two in the second half.

"At times it seemed like the consistency that you would like wasn't there [from the officials]," Foulis said. "Especially knowing what a physical game this always is when we play [NYU]. It was a bit odd to see the [foul] total, what it was, but it's one of those things you can't control. It's one of the things we don't really focus on. It is what it is, and some of those instances we put ourselves in spots where we made it easy for [the officials] to make the calls."

Brandeis also struggled offensively throughout the game, shooting just 35.5 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from three-point range. Guard Jessica Chapin '10, the Judges' leading scorer, averaging 14.8 points per game coming into the game, hit only one of her 11 shots and scored just two points.

"Especially in the middle of the first half, [the Violets] really were pressuring and denying our passes, not really letting us get in our offense," guard Lauren Rashford '10 said. "We need to learn how to step up when that happens."

While the Judges' top scorer was shut down, NYU got a strong performance from its leading scorer, senior center Jessica McEntee, last season's co-UAA player of the year. McEntee led all scorers with 19 points and tied for the game-high in rebounds with 12. Fellow senior center Megan Fox also snared 12 rebounds, tying her career high.

Lauren Orlando '09 led Brandeis in scoring with 15 points while forward Cassidy Dadaos '09 had a team-high seven rebounds. Fellow starting guard Diana Cincotta '11 led the team with four assists but also had a team-high five turnovers.

The Judges did win the turnover battle, committing 21 turnovers to the Violets' 23, but still tallied a higher mark than their season average of 15.5 per game.

"I think today we just turned the ball over a lot," Orlando said. "But again, it's NYU and they're playing hard pressure defense, and we just didn't take care of the ball. It's something that we have to work on in practice."

After a 10-0 start in nonconference play, the Judges have dropped two of their first three UAA games despite playing all three on their home court.

"We've got to learn how to play 40 minutes of basketball," Rashford said. "Thirty, 35 minutes isn't going to do it in the UAA. We've got to play 40 solid minutes of basketball."

The Judges look to bounce back next week with a pair of conference road games. They play at Case Western Reserve University Friday at 6 p.m. and Sunday against Emory University at 2 p.m.