Just last month the Brandeis women’s basketball team started their new season strong, going 4-2 so far. Earlier this week the Judges dominated against Simmons College with a 72-38 score. All 11 Judges played at least 10 minutes of the game, with Sydney Sodine ’17, Frankie Pinto ’17 and Noel Hodges ’18 scoring in the double digits. Hodges also tied Kyla Gabriel ’17 for a team high of four assists. The team is led by head Coach Carol Simon and assistant coaches Scott Foulis and alumna Morgan Kendrew ’12. Captains this season are Heather Cain ’16, Paris Hodges ’17 and Maria Jackson ’17. The Brandeis Hoot was able to conduct email interviews with all three, gaining insight to their lives on and off the court.
Paris Hodges is a double major in Sociology and Business and enjoys spending time with her friends and family when she’s not playing basketball. So far in the season she believes that the team has great potential and that they need to learn how to play 100 percent for 40 minutes. She adds, “I am confident in my team and believe we will meet success.” A personal goal for her this season is to play to the best of her ability and lead her team by example.
Maria Jackson is a Linguistics major with a minor in French. She spends her time off the court as an Undergraduate Department Representative for Linguistics, working two campus jobs and reading. A highlight for Jackson last season was “without a doubt” winning the ECAC championship. Some goals for this season include focusing on her composure and basketball IQ. She would also like to develop her ability to make good decisions under pressure while still maintaining points and rebounds. Jackson describes her leadership style as lead-by-example and says, “I am working on being more of a vocal leader this season, [and] I do my best to work hard and be passionate about the game to inspire the rest of my teammates to do the same.”
Heather Cain, the only senior captain, is a double major in Health: Science, Society, & Social Policy and Business. After graduation she hopes to travel and join a program where she can study and analyze health disparities or go into health policy. Outside of basketball Cain really enjoys going to the beach, paddle boarding, going on boats and watching movies. So far in playing for Brandeis, her favorite athletic moments have been winning the ECAC tournament last season and beating Emory, who at the time were nationally ranked number seven, at the buzzer. She describes highlights of last season, such as beating Rochester—many expected them to lose, but instead the Judges played well as a team to win the game. Cain describes her personal goal this year as unmeasurable. She elaborates by saying, “I’m a captain this year so I really want to be better in that aspect. I really want to be a great leader for my team.” She describes herself as competitive and believes that her role on the team is “pushing everyone to be competitive and to win.” Like her fellow captains, she shares the team goal of making the NCAA tournament this year, and believes this year’s team has a really good chance at it.
The Judges will hit the court this Saturday, Dec. 5 at Johnson & Wales, but if you would like to come support the team, the next women’s basketball game at home is Wednesday, Dec. 9 against Babson.
