Nicholson leads women's hoops past RWU in return, 61-41

WALTHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University women's basketball team welcomed back junior All-UAA forward Hannah Nicholson (Sunderland, Vt. / Burr and Burton Acad.), who scored a game-high 15 points after missing the first eight contests of the season, as the Judges defeated visiting Roger Williams University, 61-41, in a non-conference contest on Red Auerbach Arena tonight. With the win, the Judges improve to 4-5 on the season, while the Hawks fall to 3-7.

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HOW IT HAPPENED

• The game featured one tie and four lead changes in the first quarter, but Brandeis went ahead for good on an Ellery Riccio (Branford, Conn. / Branford) 3-pointer with 4:02 left in the first that made it 10-9.
• The bucket sparked a 10-4 run to close the period, giving Brandeis a 17-13 lead after one.
• The Judges put some distance between themselves and the Hawks in the second period, outshooting the visitors 67 percent (8-12) to 20 percent (2-10) and outscoring them 16-8.
• Reserve forwards Amber Graves (La Canada, Calif./La Canada) and Kerry Tanke (Manalapan, N.J. / Manalapan) combined for 10 points in the second as Brandeis took a 33-21 lead into the break
• The third quarter belonged to Nicholson, who went 3-for-3 from the field and 3-for-4 from the line to score nine points, outscoring the entire Hawk lineup until a buzzer-beating 3-pointer made it 20-11 in favor of the home team in the third quarter and 53-32 for the game.
• In a slowed-down fourth period, RWU outscored Brandeis, 9-8, for the final 20-point margin.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Despite making her season debut, Nicholson was the leading scorer for the game, hitting 6-of-7 from the field and 3-of-6 from the line for 15 points. She also had six rebounds.
• Sophomore Camila Casanueva (Santa Barbara, Calif./Dos Pueblos) reached double digits in scoring with 13 points, going 5-of-10 from the field, including 3-of-6 from beyond the arc. She also had six boards and four assists.
• Graves matched her career-high with 10 points for the second game in a row. All of her scoring came in the first half. Graves also led all players with a career-high six assists.
• Tanke led all players with a career-high seven rebounds as the Judges won the battle of the boards, 37-24.
• Roger Williams was paced by sophomore Sam Mancinelli, who had 13 points on 4-of-12 overall shooting, 3-of-9 from downtown and 2-of-2 from the line.
• No other RWU player was able to get much going, with nine players scoring between two and five points, and nine players with at least one rebound, but none with more than five.
• Junior Sam Leone (Ashland, Mass./Ashland) led the visitors with three assists.  
• Brandeis outscored RWU, 30-8, in points in the paint as the Hawks to 32 of their 50 shots from 3-point range, hitting just 4-of-18  (22%) inside the arc.

UP NEXT

• Brandeis is off until New Year's Day, when they take on local rivals Regis College at 1 p.m.
• Roger Williams is at the WPI tournament over New Year's, taking on the University of Scranton on December 30^th at 7 p.m.