WALTHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University women's basketball defeated visiting Eastern Nazarene College, 64-38, by shooting nearly 52 percent from the field in the second half, outscoring the Lions, 33-17, after the intermission. With the victory, the Judges string together their first two-game winning streak of the season to improve to 5-4, while ENC falls to 4-4 on the campaign.
Brandeis put three players in double figures in scoring. Graduate student and guard Diana Cincotta (Plymouth, Mass./W. Boylston) led the Judges for the second-straight game and fourth time this season with 13 points, including 11 in the first half. She hit 5-of-8 overall with a 3-pointer and two free throws. Senior Morgan Kendrew (Cotuit, Mass./Barnstable) made her first start of the season and poured in 11 points on 5-of-9 with a trifecta.
Junior Courtney Ness (Norwich, Vt./Hanover, N.H.) came off the bench and had a fine second-half effort, scoring eight points and grabbing five rebounds to finish with 10 and seven, respectively. Sophomore reserve Kasey Dean (Southbury, Conn./Pomperaug) led the Judges with eight rebounds, while rookie guard Hannah Cain (Gloucester, Mass./Gloucester) matched her career-high with seven assists as the Judges set a season-high with 20 helpers on 26 buckets.
Sophomore Janelle Rodriguez (Peabody, Mass./Peabody Memorial) had a find all-around game with six points, four rebounds and career-high-tying performances of four steals, three assists and two blocked shots.
Eastern Nazarene was led by junior forward Shardae Brown (Waterbury, Conn./Sacred Heart), who had 11 points, six coming after the break, and six rebounds. Rookie guard Kori Sorenson (Quincy, Mass./Quincy) added nine points off the bench by hitting 3-of-6 from beyond the arc. Sophomore forward Dianna Bonds (Marietta, Ga./Joseph Wheeler) matched Dean for game-high honors with eight rebounds, while also topping the Lions with two assists, two blocks and two steals.
Brandeis trailed, 13-12, with 12:13 left in the first half after a back-to-back jumpers by juniors Ace Carradine (Honolulu, Hawaii/Radford) and Mel Green (Annapolis, Md./Annapolis). The game then went scorless for nearly four minutes before a nice fast-break lay-up by Cincotta on an outlet from Cain put the Judges ahead for good.
The teams traded 3-pointers on three-straight possessions around the five-minute mark, with Sorenson connecting on either side of a Kendrew bomb to make the score 21-19, Judges, with 4:44 left before the break. Brandeis outscored ENC, 10-2, the rest of the way to take a 31-21 edge into the locker room. The Judges extended the lead to 20 with a 16-6 run over the first 8:12 of the second half - six points in the span coming from Kendrew - and they held the Lions off the rest of the way.
Brandeis returns to action Saturday afternoon with another nonconference game at Roger Williams University at 1 p.m., while ENC is off until 2012, when they take on UMass Dartmouth on Jan. 4.