PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Senior guard Jessica Chapin (Mendon, N.Y./Honeoye Falls-Lima) carried the day with a pair of Brandeis women's basketball single-game records, scoring 36 points and hitting seven 3-pointers, as the Judges defeated Carnegie Mellon, 59-50, in a University Athletic Association contest today. With the win, the Judges improve to 13-6 overall, 6-3 in the UAA, while the Tartans fall to 8-12, 1-8 UAA.
Chapin scored her record tally on 9-of-15 shooting overall, 7-of-9 from beyond the arc and 11-of-13 from the line. She had 17 points in the first half - including the team's first 11 - and 19 in the second, with 15 of the squad's final 16 - to accountefor 61 percent of the team's scoring and nine of their 17 field goals (52%). Chapin, who has had a 33- and 32-point game this season, broke the previous record of 34 points set by Pam Vaughan '90 that had stood for 20 years. Chapin also had a team-high four steals. No other Brandeis player had more than six points. Sophomore forward Shannon Hassan (Merrimack, N.H./Merrimack) led the Judges with six rebounds, while junior guard Diana Cincotta (Plymouth, Mass./West Boylston) led the squad with three assists.
Carnegie Mellon had two players score in double figures. Sophomore center Jennifer Larsen (Exeter, N.H./Exeter) led the Tartans with 15 points, while rookie Brit Phillips (Parma, Ohio/\Normandy) added 10 and tied Chapin with four steals. Rookie forward Emily Peel (Long Valley, N.J./West Morris Central) came off the bench to lead CMU with 10 rebounds, including four on the offensive glass.
The first half was a close affair that featured seven ties and 10 lead changes. Chapin scored Brandeis's first 11 points, including three 3-pointers, as the Judges took an 11-8 lead just over four-and-a-half minutes into the contest. After a lengthy scoreless drought, sophomore guard Nicole Vaccarella (Colts Neck, N.J./Colts Neck) drained a 3-pointer, sparking a 10-2 Tartan run over the next five minutes that put the hosts ahead, 18-13, with 8:30 left in the stanza. Brandeis battled back to score five in a row, a bomb from Cincotta and two Kasey Gieschen (Boonton Township, N.J./Mountain Lakes) free throws, that tied the game at 18-18. Neither team could pull away, and two Chapin freebies with 10 seconds left gave the Judges a 28-26 halftime lead.
CMU scored the first bucket of the second half to tie the game at 28-28 and hung around, staying even at 37-37 with just over 13 minutes left in the contest. Two Hassan free throws and a nice post move by rookie forward Shannon Ingram (Floral Park, N.Y./Floral Park Memorial) made it a two possession game at 41-37 with 11:39 to go. CMU senior forward Rachelle Roll (Ostrander, Ohio/Buckeye Valley) converted a traditional three-point play with 6:08 remaining to close the Tartans to within 43-41 when Chapin took over the contest again. She scored 15 straight Brandeis points - including 3-pointers on three-straight possessions - as the Judge defense held the Tartans without a bucket for six minutes until a meaningless buzzer beater.
Brandeis is next in action on Friday evening at 6 p.m. when they take on the University of Chicago in another home UAA contest.