WALTHAM, Mass. - The Brandeis University women's basketball team won their Tip-Off tournament for the fourth year in a row today as the Judges, ranked No. 8 in the most recent d3hoops.com poll and No. 12 by the WBCA, dispatched with the Bates College Bobcats (No. 17 d3hoops.com, No. 10 WBCA) by a 73-62 margin. In the consolation game, Mount Holyoke College defeated Salve Regina, 70-61.

Brandeis (2-0) withstood a furious Bates (1-1) charge early in the second half. Trailing by eight, 33-25, at the intermission, the Bobcats opened the stanza with a 12-5 run over the first 5:38. They climbed to within one at 38-37 on a jumper by senior Annie Whiting (Contoocook, N.H.). The Judges responded beautifully after a timeout, holding Bates without a field goal over the next five minutes while scoring 12 unanswered points, capping the run on a 3-pointer by sophomore Courtney Tremblay (Peabody, Mass.) with 10:29 on the clock. Brandeis never trailed by less than 10 points the rest of the way.

Brandeis was paced by junior forward Caitlin Malcolm (Windsor Locks, Conn.), who scored a game-high 21 points and pulled down eight boards to lead the Judges. She hit 13-of-16 from the free throw line to make up for a four-for-11 performance from the floor. In the process, Malcolm earned MVP honors at the Brandeis Tip-Off for the second year in a row. Three other Brandeis players scored in double figures as senior Christine Clancy (Yamrouth, Maine) added 16 points on eight-of-14 from the floor, sophomore Jaime Capra (Old Bridge, N.J.) had 11 and senior guard Amanda DeMartino (Toms River, N.J.) contributed 10 and four assists. The Judges outrebounded Bates, 50-36, including 27-14 in the second half. Brandeis also owned a 22-6 scoring margin from the free throw line.

Bates got 20 points and game-highs of nine rebounds and eight assists from sophomore guard Sarah Barton (Portsmouth, N.H.). Barton hit eight-of-22 shots from the floor along with a pair of trifectas. The Bobcats added 14 points each from Whiting and junior Mary Hart (Bradford, Mass.), who drained four-of-six from beyond the arc. Rookie Val Beckwith (Woburn, Mass.) added 11 points in her second collegiate game.

In addition to Brandeis's Malcolm, who won the tournament MVP for the second year in a row, the All-Tournament team consisted of Capra and Clancy from Brandeis, Jonee Billy from Mount Holyoke, Barton from Bates and Lindsay Frederick from Salve Regina.