The Judges finished their seven-game span of home games last Sunday, and after a strong start in which they won four of their first five games, they lost their last two against University Athletic Association opponents Case Western University and Carnegie Mellon University.

The Judges' contest against Case on Sunday proved an outing where they were punished for allowing the visitors too much respect in the early going. With five minutes and 14 seconds left in the first half, Case was ahead by a 17-16 margin, but then pulled away in the waning minutes to increase their lead to eight points.

The Judges trailed throughout the game until there were 55 seconds left, where a crucial field goal resulted in a tie game, which got the crowd on its feet. And while the newfound momentum made it seem that pulling out a win was within reach, Case senior guard Evy Iacono destroyed any hopes of a comeback, as she hit two clutch free throws to give the Spartans a two point lead. From there, the Spartans forced a turnover and buried one final basket to win the game by four points, 50-46.

The Judges fell to 7-7 with a 1-2 record in the UAA. Forward Samantha Anderson '13 led the Judges with 11 points on an impressive 5-for-7 shooting spree, while the Spartans' Iacono led all scorers with 17 points.

During Friday's game against Carnegie Mellon, the game was on a knife's edge for much of the first half. Tartans sophomore guard Chandler Caufield drilled a three-pointer to hand Carnegie Mellon the largest lead of the half at five points.
Despite the close-run nature of the first half, the second half was different. Carnegie surged to a strong start, beginning the last 20 minutes on a 12-3 run. After the Judges were down by 11, they roared back to within four points of Carnegie with six minutes, four seconds left. However, a comeback-while conceivable-was, once again, not to be. Carnegie jumped ahead by eight points with two minutes and three seconds left and then went on to win the game despite six points from Brandeis guard Niki Laskaris '16 in the last four minutes of the game.

Guard Kasey Dean '14 led the Judges with 16 points on five-for-12 shooting and three three-pointers. She showed her prowess in other areas of the stat sheet with six rebounds, five assists, two steals and one block in 33 minutes. Guard Hannah Cain '15 added 11 points to round out the scoring for the Judges.

According to Coach Carol Simon, rebounding has been the primary issue that has plagued the Judges so far this season.

"We need to be much more committed to rebounding on the offense and defensive end," she said. "We struggled a bit with that in the past couple of games."

Forward Erika Higginbottom '13 has led the squad in rebounds per game with 5.1. In wins this season, the Judges average 27.1 defensive rebounds per game, but in losses they average 23.8 rebounds per game.

While the Judges have lost their last two games, the Judges have grabbed 26 and 27 rebounds, which is above their season average of 25.5.

Despite Simon's assessment of her team's inability to follow up on baskets, the statistics suggest that, while rebounds are definitely something that the team needs to work on, the losses aren't directly correlating to ineffective rebounding. The squad's top rebounder this season is Erika Higginbottom '13. who averages 5.1 rebounds per game. Improvement in getting off to a good start in games, however, might benefit the squad, who seems to be able to put together a good rally towards the end of their contests.

Playing on the road until Friday, Feb. 1, the Judges' next play at the University of Chicago, a squad that is 3-10 overall and 0-3 in UAA play, on Friday, before visiting Washington University in Saint Louis on Sunday to complete their weekend road trip to the Midwest.