Carnegie-Mellon never had a prayer. Looking to avenge their first loss of the season, Brandeis never trailed once as they coasted to a 65-44 victory over the visiting Tartans.
A three pointer from Jessica Chapin ’10 gave the Judges the first lead of the contest. Carnegie Mellon managed to cut it to two at the 14:53 mark of the first half but Brandeis responded with a 15-2 run, which included back to back three’s from Chapin and Diana Cincotta ’11. From there, it was autopilot for Coach Carol Simon’s squad, never allowing the Tartans much opportunity to come back.
“It’s always a tough game especially with that kind of – you don’t overlook games but that Sunday game is always a hard game because you only have one day to prepare for it but I thought we handled ourselves well. Intensity was pretty good. We were a little sloppy with the ball but we’re going to work on that.”
Chapin lead the offense with 15 points and shared a team high six rebounds with Cassidy Dadaos ’09. Diana Cincotta had nine points in the contest while Amanda Wells ’09 and Lauren Orlando ’09 each pulled in five rebounds. The Judges dominated the interior, outrebounding Carnegie-Mellon 43-34 and finished with a decisive 20-8 margin for points in the paint. Brandeis also converted 15 of 18 free throws including a perfect 8-8 in the first half .
Carnegie Mellon found most of their offense coming off the bench, as Corey Innes led the team with 12 points and Jacki Cortese had 10. The Tartans were held to 25.8% shooting in the game.
The victory was a timely one as Brandeis needed to show they could rebound after a disappointing loss at home to number one ranked Rochester 62-66. After keeping pace with a tie score following the first half, the Yellowjackets went on a 16-5 run to open up the second half and put the game out of reach from a furious Brandeis rally. A three pointer by Cincotta made it a one possession game with 1:33 left but a costly turnover on their next possession and clutch free throw shooting produced the final outcome.
“It was disappointing” Coach Simon said, “but you know obviously with Rochester, they are a very good team. You can’t have any lapses with them and that was really, you know, the biggest problem with us. We had that four minute lapse in the beginning of the second half and they took advantage of it, got us in a little hole. But the nice thing is you know, that we did come back and we had our opportunities but whether we turn the ball over or whatever, just didn’t happen.”
Jess Chapin led the team with 20 points and 8 rebounds. Amber Strodthoff ’11 had 11 points off the bench. Melissa Alwardt guided Rochester with a game high 21 points. Brandeis outshot Rochester 51% to 42% but committed 20 turnovers to Rochester’s 16.
Over the break, Brandeis wrapped up their non-conference portion of their season with a New Year’s Eve victory over Regis 64-58 and inaugurated 2009 with a total domination of Rhode Island College 77-47. The Judges are now 11-1 on the season including a 1-1 conference
Now number 7th ranked Brandeis remains at home as they take on arch-rivals 13th ranked New York University Violets on Saturday at 1:00pm. Always a competitive affair, Coach Simon knows that this is one opponent Brandeis can’t take lightly.
“NYU is obviously a very good team as well… We’ve got to come with the same intensity. We know it’s going to be an up and down game, a physical game, you know they’re a very good team so we’ve got to come out with you know, three or four good practices this week and come into the game strong.”
