WALTHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University women's basketball team got their 2015-16 season off to a hot start today with an 81-38 victory over Mount Holyoke College in the opening round of the Brandeis Tip-Off Tournament presented by the Park Lodge Hotel Group. The Judges (1-0) will meet Eastern Nazarene College in tomorrow's championship game, after the Lions dispatched of Lasell College, 56-47, in the day's other semifinal.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Brandeis trailed only once at 5-2, but the Judges scored the next 13 points of the contest to take a 15-5 lead with two minutes remaining in the first quarter and never looked back.
• They blew things open in the second, outscoring Mount Holyoke by a whopping 31-7 margin to go ahead 50-18 at halftime.
• The third quarter was the closest period, with the Judges only taking it 16-14, but they padded their lead in the fourth, 15-6.

STAT LEADERS

• Brandeis had four players score in double figures: junior center Maria Jackson (Rochester, N.Y./Hilton) led the squad with 12 points, while classmate Frankie Pinto (San Clemente, Calif./San Clemente) and senior Heather Cain (Gloucester, Mass./Gloucester) each had 11. Sophomore transfer Neffie Lockley (Aurora, Colo. / Regis Jesuit) added 10 points, including a 7-point second quarter.
• Genelle Green of MHC led all players with 16 points, hitting 7-of-17 overall and 2-of-5 from downtown.
• Junior Kyla Gabriel (Tivoli, N.Y. / Red Hook) pulled down a game- and career-high nine rebounds, six on the offensive glass. Lockley and junior Paris Hodges (Southampton, N.Y./Southampton) had seven boards each. Xajaah Williams-Flores topped the Lyons with eight boards, while Green had seven.
• Gabriel also tied for game-high honors with four assists, matched by Kelly Stewart of Mount Holyoke.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• The Judges dominated the boards to the tune of 58-39, including 32-7 on the offensive glass.
• Brandeis also forced the Lyons into 31 turnovers, while committing only 7 miscues of their own, turning that into a 30-2 margin in points off turnovers.
• The Judges' 43-point margin of victory was their largest advantage of the game.

THE BRANDEIS TIP-OFF TOURNAMENT, PRESENTED BY THE PARK LODGE HOTEL GROUP

• This is the 17^th annual tournament, but the first time it is being presented by PLHG.
• Brandeis will be going for their third title in the last four years.
• Tonight's win was also the 399^th in head coach Carol Simon's career. She will go for #400 in the title game tomorrow.

GAME TWO

• After a tight first half that was tied at 24-24, Eastern Nazarene outshot Lasell, 41 percent to 32 percent in the second, en route to a 32-13 advantage.
• The Lions were even better from 3-point range, hitting 4-of-6 while the Lasers connected on just 1-of-10.
• ENC had three players score in double digits, led by Jessica Franco with 14 points off the bench. BreAnna Fraser added 10, as did Nicole Greer. Greer scored eight of her 10 in the second half.
• Lasell's Katie Stopera scored a game-high 17 points, but was just 1-of-3 from the floor for three points in the second half.
• ENC also had a 46-31 edge on the glass, with Elia Salazar leading all players with seven boards and three other Lions grabbing six each, including Franco and Greer. Stopera had six for Lasell, but no other player had more than four.

UP NEXT

• Brandeis and Eastern Nazarene will meet tomorrow at 3 p.m. in the championship game.
• Lasell and Mount Holyoke face off at 1 p.m. in the consolation game.