The Judges split their most recent games, defeating the Roger Williams University Hawks and losing to the Tufts University Jumbos. The Judges are currently at a record of 3–1 for the season and have yet to play any University Athletic Association Conference games. So far, the team is off to a decent start, and even their loss to the Jumbos was a very close contest.

According to the Judges’ Samira Abdelrehim ’21, the team is focusing on their communication on the court to increase their cohesion. She told the Justice, “Last season, we unfortunately suffered from a lot of injuries, and that affected our cohesiveness on the court.” She said that so far, the team has been improving in that regard this season. She said that communication can still be improved on the court because  when everyone is on the same page on the court and on the sidelines, “we look really good, and if we can do this consistently, we’ll be hard to stop.”

Judges 83, Hawks 63

After the first quarter in which both teams came out firing and ended in a tie at 16, the Judges demolished their opponent in the last three quarters. Headed into the second quarter, the Judges proved that they would not back down. In fact, the team scored the game’s next six points. Emma Reaves ’23 made a layup with 9:14 on the clock that brought the score to 18–16 assisted by Camila Casanueva ’21. About a minute later, Jullian Petrie ’21 made one of her two free throws on a foul by the Hawks’ Gabby Jerahian. The game was then uneventful until there was 7:32 left in the quarter when Reaves scored from behind the three-point line bringing the score to 22–16. With these six points, the Judges did not trail again the rest of the game. The Judges ended the half with a three-point shot by Francesca Marchese ’23, assisted by Casanueva in the very last second. 

In the game’s second half, the Judges maintained their stable lead to bring the victory home. Right out of the gate, Casanueva made a jump shot that put the Judges ahead 43–27. Neither side scored for over a minute before Jerahian made a layup of her own. 30 seconds later, Reaves made a three-point shot. The Hawks did not score again until 6:50 left in the half with a shot made from behind the three-point line, by the Hawk’s Lizzy Stevenson. That said, the Judges maintained a comfortable lead throughout the third quarter, ending it with just under a 20-point lead, with a score of 65–47. 

The Judges spent the last quarter mostly ensuring that the Hawks did not take away their sizable lead. In the end, they did just that, as the game concluded with the Judges bringing home the win by twenty points. This game marked the first time since the 2015–2016 season where the Judges began their season on a three-game winning streak. Three players tied for most points scored during this game. Hannah Nicholson ’20, Casanueva and Reavis all provided the Judges with 13 points. Petrie provided an additional 11 points.

Jumbos 81, Judges 77

The Judges dropped their first game of the season in their matchup against the Tufts University Jumbos. That said, the team did fairly well against the number two ranked Jumbos and improved upon their last year’s game against them that resulted in the Jumbos scoring in the triple digits, 110–63. Much of this game’s close score can be attributed to a career-high game for Casanueva who scored 32 points, 15 of which were in the fourth quarter. Nicholson scored the next highest number of points at 10.

The Judges led the game after the first quarter 23–20 — with nine points, scored by Casanueva. In the second quarter, the Jumbos came back swinging, but the Judges still maintained a decent lead. The Jumbos scored the quarter’s first four points then scored seven of the first nine points of the quarter. The Judges’ first points of the quarter was a layup by Courtney Thrun ’21, followed shortly by Nicholson. The Judges ended the half with an eight-point lead and a score of 40–48. 

In the third quarter, Tufts came back swinging. They outscored the Judges 17–10, but because the Judges had an eight-point lead to begin with, they still ended the quarter up by one single point. Entering the final quarter, the Judges still were holding a 58–57 lead over the Jumbos, but the Judges’ efforts were ultimately not enough to bring in a game win. After a valiant comeback, the Jumbos won the game by a score of 81–77. 

Looking ahead, the Judges will take on Salem State University at 6 p.m. “Our team goals this season are to make the most of every practice and every game and continue to improve as a team. We want to continue to develop the skills necessary to lead and motivate each other while competing at a high level. Everyone has been working really hard so far to improve both their basketball and character skills day by day, and are working hard to help those around them do the same. With everyone working hard to get better every day, we can continue to grow as players and as people,” Abdelrahim reflected.