WALTHAM, Mass.  – In a second half that featured five ties and four lead changes, the Brandeis women's basketball team couldn't hang on as they suffered a 69-66 setback to the University of Chicago in a University Athletic Association contest in Red Auerbach Arena tonight. The Judges fall to 11-12 overall this season, 3-9 in the UAA. The Maroons improve to 17-6 overall and maintain a share of the UAA lead at 10-2.

FOR THE JUDGES

• Three starters scored in double digits for the hosts.
• Senior Maria Jackson (Rochester, N.Y./Hilton) scored all of her game-high 15 points in the second half, hitting 7-of-11 with a free throw.
• Jackson also grabbed 11 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season and ninth of her career.
• With the 11 boards, she became the seventh player in school history with 600 for her career.
• Classmate Sydney Sodine (New York, N.Y./Hall Hollow Hills West) shouldered the load in the first half, scoring 11 of her 15 points, tied with Jackson for game-high honors.
• Senior guard Frankie Pinto (San Clemente, Calif./San Clemente) netted 10 points, seven in the first half.
• Pinto had two 3-pointers in the contest, becoming the third player in program history to reach 125 for her career.
• Senior Kyla Gabriel (Tivoli, N.Y./Red Hook) added four assists off the bench, as did rookie Katie Goncalo (Fall River, Mass./Tabor Acad.).

FOR THE MAROONS

• Chicago had just one player score in double digits – senior Britta Nordstrom, who finished with 10. Nordstrom also led the visitors with five rebounds.
• The Maroons showed incredible depth, as 13 different players scored points and nine grabbed rebounds.
• Junior Elizabeth Nye led all players with five assists.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Brandeis outshot Chicago, 48% (26-54) to 43% (26-61), and owned a 38-31 rebounding edge.
• The Maroons forced 25 Brandeis turnovers, while committing just 15 of their own. They turned that into a 25-12 edge in points off those miscues.
• The visitors' depth showed in a 37-20 edge in scoring off the bench.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Chicago controlled the first quarter, taking a 14-10 lead after 10 minutes as they held Brandeis to just 2-for-13 from the field.
• Brandeis answered with a 9-4 run to open the second, going ahead for the first time, 19-18, on a Pinto trifecta with 6:43 remaining.
• Chicago scored the game's next 10 points to kick off a 13-2 run of their own that gave them the evening's largest lead, 31-21, with 3:23 to go in the half.
• Brandeis scored nine of the last 14 points of the stanza to trail, 36-30, at the break.
• Nordstrom scored the first four points of the third quarter to put the Maroons back up by 10, 40-30, less than two minutes into the second half.
• The Judges back into it by shooting 8-of-12 from the floor in the quarter. They were still down 44-35, with 6:39 to go in the period when they went on a 12-2 run, reclaiming a 47-46 lead on an Eva Hart (Manasquan, N.J./Manasquan) lay-up  with 1:22 on the clock.
• Chicago closed the period with a Miranda Burt 3-pointer to make it a 49-47 lead for the visitors headed into the fourth quarter.
• Though the Judges tied the game four times in first four minutes of the fourth, they were unable to get over the hump until back-to-back buckets by senior Paris Hodges (Southampton, N.Y./Southampton), who saw limited playing time in the first three quarters because of foul trouble. Her bucket with 5:50 remaining gave Brandeis a 58-56 lead.
• The Judges forced a turnover on the next UC possession, but they were unable to capitalize.
• Chicago sophomore Obi Olariche put the visitors back on top for good with an offensive rebound bucket on which she was fouled. Olariche converted the three-point play to make it 59-58 with 4:52 to go.
• The Maroons got a stop on the next Brandeis possession and Olariche fed Burt for a lay-up that made it a two-possession game.
• Jackson answered with a jumper, but UC's Nye answered from beyond the arc to make it a five-point game, 65-60, with 2:31 to go.
• Jackson hit another shot on a Sodine feed, and the Judges had a chance to get closer after UC missed two free throws on their next possession. Sodine connected on a nice move in the post, getting the Judges to within 65-64 with 1:26 remaining.
• Sodine blocked Olariche's shot on the next Chicago possession, but the Maroon player returned the favor, rejecting Jackson with under a minute to play.
• After UC's Mia Farrell hit two free throws with 34 seconds left to make it a 3-point game, Hodges missed an attempt to tie the game from deep.
• Olariche got the rebound, but was immediately fouled. She missed both, however, and Hodges took the second miss the length of the floor for a bucket to make it 67-66 with 5.4 seconds to go.
• Farrell hit both, and Brandeis's Jackson missed a last-second heave from 30 feet, drawing iron, but too hard.

UP NEXT

• Brandeis will meet UAA co-leader and 7^th-ranked Washington University on Sunday at 2 p.m. fo their Senior Day game.