Waltham, Mass. - The Brandeis University women's basketball team finished their season with a loss to New York University, 70-56.
Before the game, Brandeis honored three senior players: Heather Cain (Gloucester, Mass./ Gloucester), Niki Laskaris (Swampscott, Mass./ Swampscott) and Ceara McNamara (Amherst, N.H./ Souhegan). Student assistant O'Hara Chard '16 was also honored.
Senior Niki Laskaris finished her career with a strong individual performance, scoring a team-high 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field and 4-of-4 from the line. Maria Jackson (Rochester, N.Y./ Hilton) had 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting, along with 11 rebounds and three steals - her third double-double of the season. Sydney Sodine (Melville, N.Y./ Half Hollow Hills East) led the Judges with four assists and also blocked two shots.
Kaitlyn Read, the second leading scorer in the UAA this season with 16.5 points a game, led the Violets with 19 points (8-of-15 shooting), six assists and six steals, all game highs. Amy Harioka added 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including five 3-pointers. Megan Dawe and Riley Wurtz contributed 14 and 10 points, respectively. Read, Dawe and Drew Cabral grabbed a team-high four rebounds apiece.
The Judges had a 12-7 lead with 2:46 remaining in the first quarter, but NYU closed the quarter on a 9-3 run to take a 16-15 edge. Laskaris then caught fire, scoring the Judges' first nine points of the second quarter, but the Violets led 35-33 at the half, with Read having totaled 12 points at the intermission.
NYU stretched their lead in the third period, holding the Judges to one field goal in the final 6:16 while going on an 11-0 run to increase their margin to 13 points. They took a 57-43 advantage on Harioka's fifth trifecta of the afternoon with 27 seconds remaining. In the fourth quarter, the Judges could not cut their deficit to fewer than 10 points.
Brandeis finishes their year with a record of 12-13 overall, 5-9 in the UAA.
NYU went 18-7 in the regular season, 7-7 in the UAA. The Violets will learn their postseason fate on Monday.
-by Emmett Greenberg '16