Last season, the women's basketball team featured six members of the first-year class, none of whom made a major impact in her rookie season. All six averaged fewer than 2 points per game, and the only member of the class who averaged more than two rebounds per game was forward Shannon Ingram '13, who left the basketball team after the season. But coach Carol Simon thinks the sophomore class is ready to have a larger impact in its second year."They obviously know the system a lot better [this year], so they are used to what we run," Simon said. "You can tell their heads aren't spinning like they were when they were freshmen. They're definitely adding more depth to the team right now."

One member of that class looking to make an impact is guard Shakara Scott '13. Scott appeared in half of the team's games last year and averaged 0.5 rebounds and 0.6 points per game during that span. But she thinks she has improved her game on the court.

"I feel a lot more comfortable," Scott said. "I know the plays. I can't use that excuse that I don't know the plays anymore. . I totally got to get my head mentally into it; that's been my problem since last year. I just can't seem to wrap my head around [forgetting about] a mistake 5 seconds ago and thinking about the new play."

Scott admitted that she needs to improve at moving on after struggling at a recent practice.

"I was really, really frustrated. I lost the ball a couple of times [at practice], and it got to me. I kind of stopped playing."

Scott was not the only one to struggle at that practice. Simon was so disappointed by her team's performance that she made them do unplanned wind sprints several times during the session.

"We were undisciplined; we didn't execute. This was a thinking practice, and we didn't think," Simon said of her team's performance at practice that day. "They weren't doing certain things that we've learned from day one," she said.

Seven members of the Class of 2014 were doing these sprints alongside their teammates. Five of these newcomers are guards; the team lost three guards to graduation last season. The new guards are Kasey Dean '14, Kayla Murkison '14, Rebecca Raffler '14, Janelle Rodriguez '14 and Julia Scanlon '14. Joining them are forwards/centers Jackie Morrissey '14 and Nicolina Vitale '14.

The rookies will join a squad looking to rebound after missing out on the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time in four seasons. Simon said that the team's struggles early last season prevented them from making their fifth straight tournament appearance.

"At the end of the season [last year], quite honestly, we were playing our best ball," Simon said. "I think at the beginning of the year, we just started slowly. We didn't get as quick as we did the year before, but at the end we were playing some really, really good basketball, and I truly believe that if we were chosen to make the tournament, we would have done some damage last year at the end."

The Judges finished last season with a 16-8 record but ended the year on a 7-2 run, including three straight wins over conference opponents. The Judges also swept University of Rochester last year, who made the Final Four of the NCAA tournament.

Brandeis lost its leading scorer last season and one of the most prolific female basketball players in Judges history in guard Jessica Chapin '10. Chapin finished her career as the only Brandeis women's basketball player to finish in the top 10 in career points, rebounds, assists and steals. Her 1,280 points are good for sixth all-time, while her 521 rebounds rank eighth in the team's history. Also, her 262 steals are the sixth most in program history, while her 243 steals rank third. However, the team does return both its second and third leading scorers, guard Morgan Kendrew '12 and forward Amber Strodthoff '11. Kendrew started all but four of the team's games last season and averaged 10.1 points per game. She is the only returning starter who averaged more than 10 points per contest.

Strodthoff led the team with an average of 7.4 rebounds per game and also contributed 8.3 points per game while appearing in 19 of the team's 24 games, starting 18 of them.

Strodthoff realizes that as one of the seniors, she has to set an example for the younger players.

"[I'm] just trying to lead through my experience and lead through example and just be vocal to the younger kids," Strodthoff said. "One good thing about our team this year is that I think a lot of different people will step up, so we'll have a pretty balanced offense in that sense."

The women's basketball team opened up its season last night at home against Worchester Polytechnic Institute, but the game finished too late for this edition. It next plays Babson College tomorrow at 7 p.m. before hosting the Brandeis Invitational starting Friday at 5:30 p.m.