Brandeis winning streak came to a halt at ten games, as they fell to division rival New York University 70-68 on Saturday. The Judges were 4 wins shy of tying last years 14 game unbeaten streak.
Jaime Capra 08 led Brandeis scorers with 20 points, going 6 of 12 from the field and got 9 rebounds. Christine Clancy 06 and Caitlin Malcolm 07 each contributed with 17 points, with Malcolm leading all players with 11 rebounds.
The game was an exciting, up and down affair. Brandeis started the game with a 10-1 run and half way through the first period, were up 22-13. Then NYU went on a 13-1 run to lead by 3 before both teams grinded through the first half with NYU up 32-31.
In the second half, both teams kept pace of each other until late in the second half,when, trailing by 7, Brandeis stormed back to take a 61-59 lead. The teams would trade baskets down to the wire. With 10 seconds left, Malcolm came to the foul line with Brandeis trailing by 1. Malcolm made the first but missed the second. NYUs Stephanie Ryba 07 grabbed the rebound and gave it to Adrienne Rochetti 07. Rochetti, who finished with 12 points in the game, made the lay-up with 2 seconds and Brandeis was unable to get the final shot off.
Although Brandeis played well, two key stats show the root of their downfall. In the first half, Brandeis was only 8-17 (47.1%) from the free throw line. Their considerable boost in the second half, converting 17-21 (81%) kept them in the game. However, that was not enough to overcome a season high of 27 turnovers. Clancy had 6 while Amanda DeMartino 06 and rookie Lauren Orlando 09 each had 5.
Prior to this game, the month of January had been very good to Brandeis. Starting off being ranked number 2 by d3hoops.com, they routed Endicott 60-41. Amanda DeMartino '06 had 9 assists and Clancy and Malcolm dominated the scoring with 12 and 13 points respectively.
In their UAA opener against Carnegie-Mellon, the Judges achieved something special;
not only did they win their first conference game, 81-66, but it was also witness to two milestones: Coach Carol Simons 250th victory and DeMartino breaking the school record for assists (previously held by Pam Vaughn 87-90, 351 assists). Malcolm had 12 points and 9 assists while Brandeis got some punch from the bench with Courtney Tremblay 08 and Lauren Orlando '09 each tallying 17 points.
Brandeis then took their second conference victory, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat on an 18-5 run to beat Rochester 60-56. Malcolm had a season-high 22 points and, while they were out rebounded, Brandeis shot 72% from the foul line to overcome that deficit.
The Judges followed up the Rochester nail-biter with an easy defeat of MIT 67-48. Clancy had a game- and season-high of 17 points, largely thanks to converting 11-13 free throws. Three other players reached double-digit scoring figures: Lauren Goyette '09 with 10, Orlando (who started for Malcolm who was slightly banged-up after the Rochester game) had 14 and Amanda Wells '09 had 11.
The loss to NYU drops Brandeis from the number 2 seed down to number 7, but they have a chance to climb back if they can take out conference rivals Chicago and Washington University on the road.
I got a chance to talk Coach Simon and DeMartino after their victory over Tufts about achieving their respective marks.
When asked if she would stick around for 300, Coach Simon replied, I hope so unless they get rid of me.
DeMartino didnt have much to add either. Its a huge honor;
Im very happy and very fortunate to be able to do it.
