Following their game against Emory University on Jan. 22, the women’s basketball team geared up for another two games this week to conclude their first round of inter-University Athletic Association (UAA) conference games for the 2022-23 season. On Friday, Jan. 27, the Judges hosted the Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) Spartans. Two days later, they faced the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Tartans in another home game.
In the matchup against the CWRU on Friday, Jan. 27, the Judges were looking to capture an at-home win against the Spartans. With each team having won on the road against each other in 2022, this game was evenly matched. To start the game Caitlin Gresko ’25 put the Judges in the lead with a dominating 3-pointer trifecta. Despite the strong showing right out of the gate, the Judges were unable to maintain the 9-3 lead for long. The Spartans took the lead after the first period off of a buzzer-beater. With a completed shot from Emma Reavis ’23, the Judges recaptured the lead to begin the second quarter. However, there were three additional lead changes within the second period, ultimately resulting in the Judges leading 26-25 as the teams went into halftime. In the third period, the Judges fell 19-14 to the Spartans, who secured a 44-40 lead. Heading into the final ten minutes of the game, the Judges scored the first five points; Tathiana Pierre ’23 scored a 3-pointer and Gresko scored off of two free throws. This start to the fourth quarter placed the Judges in the lead, with a score of 45-44. To follow, CWRU rallied to regain the lead, and they never trailed again. Though the winning margin was as large as nine points at one point during the final quarter, Pierre helped the Judges to stay in the game, having scored eight points, including two 3-pointers. However, the Judges were unable to capture the lead again, and fell to the CWRU Spartans 60-67. Despite the close loss, the women’s basketball team still had three players score within the double digits, Reavis with 16, Pierre with 15, and Gresko with 12. Each of these Judges had significantly more points scored within the fourth quarter than the rest of the game. Reavis also secured nine rebounds for the Judges while Pierre earned a team-high six assists for the game.
To close out the first half of their 2022/23 UAA season schedule, the Judges hosted the Carnegie Mellon University Tartans on Sunday, Jan. 29. Though the visiting Tartans scored the final six points of the first quarter, the Judges started off the game with a promising 18-7 lead to conclude the first quarter. During the second quarter, CMU captured the lead with another six point streak within the first two minutes. For the remaining eight minutes of the second quarter, there were several lead changes and two ties. The Tartans concluded the first half with a 7-2 streak against the Judges as the teams headed into the locker rooms for halftime. The second half of the game began with two successful shots from the Tartans as they extened their lead to nine points over the Judges. With 1:53 remaining in the third quarter, however, the Judges closed the score margin to a single point difference off of a 3-pointer made by Gresko. Within the remainder of the third quarter, CMU scored another five points making the score 54-48 to begin the fourth quarter. The Tartans started the fourth quarter like they had for the past two quarters, opening up with a 6-2 run against the Judges and a lead of 10 over the Judges. The Tartans never looked back after that, and were able to hold off the Judges for the remainder of the game. The final score was 79-67, Carnegie Mellon. Though the Judges fell to the Tartans, they still had an impressive showing with four players scoring in the double digits; Caitlin Gresko with 15, Emma Reavis and Lulu Ohm ’25 each with 13, and Mollie Obar ’25 with 10. This was only one point short of Ohm’s career-high in point scoring. Reavis had seven rebounds and Franchesca Marchese ’23 had three assists.
Looking ahead, the Judges will travel to Cleveland, Ohio to play the Case Western Reserve University Spartans for their final meeting of the regular season on Friday, Feb. 3 at 5:30 p.m. The Judges will then travel to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to play the Carnegie Mellon University Tartans on Sunday, Feb. 5 at 2 p.m. To watch your Judges women’s basketball team play while on the road, the live stream links can be found on the women’s basketball tab of the Brandeis Athletics website.
Editor’s Note: Francesca Marchese is a staff writer of The Brandeis Hoot and did not contribute to the writing or editing of this article.
