University Athletic Association

[deiscanton]

2:27 to play--

Rochester 52, Carnegie Mellon 46

[deiscanton]

Final score from the Palestra in Rochester, NY--

Rochester 59, Carnegie Mellon 46

Rochester avoids the upset from a much improved Carnegie Mellon team.

For Rochester, Danielle Muller scored a career high 18 pts. for the game; 16 of those points came in the second half-- she has just been named WYSL's player of the game.

Rochester takes the 1/2 game lead in the UAA heading into January, when the rest of the league will start conference play.

[bearswatcher]

OH ALLEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

we're nipping at your heals!!!!!!!!!!!

should be a fun year!

[bearswatcher]

Oh yea, forgot, Chicago got some deserved respect, after all they did beat us once last year. Looks like 4 in top 25 next week baring a bad loss by someone

[sandman]

...and Case is 9 points (in 2 games) away from a possible spot in the Top 25.  After losing a close one to now-#9 Baldwin-Wallace that came down to the last shot, the Lady Spartans split a pair on the road last weekend. (I'm in the middle of final exams, so I haven't been able to post.)

After a disappointing 4-point loss at Grove City (?) in which they shot 29% from the field and never once held the lead, Case rebounded the next day with a blowout win at Westminster.  The players of the weekend were Ashley Horton with 33 points and 21 rebounds in the two games (and who has marked a double-double in each of the last five games) and the leading scorer on the young season, Dana Dempsey, who scored 31 points.

Case stands at 4-2, and the only UAA-caliber opponent they've played is B-W*, but they take on another one at home tomorrow night in Kenyon (7-0).  I would be very satisfied with a Lady Spartan win, because that would show that the team would be ready for conference play, and go into the break on a good note.

*You could make a case for Mt. Union, who is now 5-1... they haven't lost since the opening game with Case, and they've already won as many games as last year!

[bearswatcher]

Well the WBCA gets it...Wash U #2....but come on NOT 1 vote for Chicago, how can that be

[jagluski]

OH ALLEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

we're nipping at your heals!!!!!!!!!!!

should be a fun year!

Note to bearswatcher: heals is spelled HeEls. 

And even though I'm a Wash U fan/alum, please realize that I don't endorse anything he says...I think most of it a bunch of garbage.

[deiscanton]

I was at the Brandeis at WPI game last night.

A story of the game can now be found on the Brandeis Athletics page-- http://www.brandeis.edu/athletics, and click on the score of the Brandeis/WPI game.

My quick thoughts on last night and the previous "no game"--

1.) Jaime Capra had 24 points for Brandeis last night, Caitlin Malcolm had 18 points, and Alison Chase had 13 points-- however, I did not find this out until right now, because WPI does their box scores by hand, and I could not get updates from them as the game was going on.

2.)  It was pretty chilly inside Harrington Auditorium-- I believe that the interior temperature felt like it was about 55 degrees Fahrenheit, although I did not have a thermometer.  I felt the chill inside the building.

3.)  Nice touch for WPI to have their band and cheerleaders present, and I got to watch the WPI men's team have a good practice before the court was available for warmups at 6 PM Eastern last night.

4.)  In other news, the Brandeis/Babson game from last Saturday that was not played due to officials not being available to call the game will not be made up-- it has now officially been cancelled.

5.)  Brandeis returns to the Auerbach Arena for their final game of the first semester as the Judges host Western New England College on Saturday.   Tip is at 1 PM Eastern.

[bbald eagle]

3.) Nice touch for WPI to have their band and cheerleaders present, and I got to watch the WPI men's team have a good practice before the court was available for warmups at 6 PM Eastern last night.

4.) In other news, the Brandeis/Babson game from last Saturday that was not played due to officials not being available to call the game will not be made up-- it has now officially been cancelled.

At 1:15 PM Eastern time today, the game between Brandeis and Babson was declared a "no contest" and officially postponed. Rescheduling of the game is still to be determined.

The reason for the postponement is due to a mixup in the scheduling of referees by the Eastern College Athletic Conference. As a result, no referees were available for today's game between Brandeis and Babson.

This postponement marks the second time this season that a New England DIII women's basketball contest had to be postponed due to inavailablity of referees. The Nov. 19 games in the Tufts women's basketball tip-off tournament were delayed 1 day due to this very issue.

Bands & Cheerleaders, but not refs? This sounds like a very bad joke.  Buy the referee association a calendar to keep track of assignments.

[WBRSsports]

Hopefully the refs will make it to Brandeis' home game tomorrow at Red Auerbach Arena against WNEC...

The last time that Brandeis lost a non-conference game was against WNEC two years ago

You can listen to the broadcast of the game live on www.wbrs.org

[deiscanton]

About that loss 2 years ago to WNEC--

I remember why that loss happened.  Brandeis had just come off final exams with only one day between the end of finals and the game to practice.  Usually during exams, not much formal practice takes place so that the students can study and take their finals.  However, as a result, the Judges were a little rusty, and to top it off, Brandeis played that game in WNEC's gym, the Alumni Healthful Living Center (AHLC) in Springfield, MA, on WNEC's campus. 

However, let us get to today's game--

This game is a rematch of two previous home games that Brandeis played last year against WNEC-- one of them was in the first round of the ECAC New England tournament.  Last year, Brandeis won both matches at Auerbach Arena, and this game will once again be at Auerbach Arena.

In addition, WNEC has a new coach this year.  Former Temple star Nicole Chaszar (Temple '00) now coaches the Golden Bears, with WNEC's former coach, Wendy Davis, having moved on to the NESCAC to become the head coach at Trinity College (CT.)    UAA coaches Christy Thomaskutty of Emory and Aaron Roussell of Chicago have all had some early notable success in big games as young coaches-- I just hope that Nicole Chaszar does not join them today in the notable category.  WNEC comes into the game with a 5-2 mark, and only lost by 12 to Springfield.

If Brandeis can keep WNEC's Jen Dabrowski, Lisa Massella, and Jessica Harrica in check, then the Judges have a good shot to win this game.

[deiscanton]

Brandeis won today at the Auerbach Arena, 63-38, in a near textbook example of how to beat Western New England College.  The Judges came out ready and focused in every aspect of the game.  By halftime, when WNEC, having only made 5 field goals, did not make a 3 pointer and Brandeis was leading 29-12, I knew that I did not have to worry about this one. 

WNEC's Lisa Masella was held scoreless, and WNEC's Jen Dabrowski only scored 6 points.  Vicky Taylor was the only Golden Bear to score in double figures-- she had 11 points and 12 rebounds.

WNEC was scrappy enough so that Brandeis only won the rebounding battle by 3, 37-34, but Brandeis was in control for the entire game.  Brandeis's biggest lead was 29 points with 4:43 left in the game.

The official Brandeis press release can be found on the D3Hoops.com women's basketball scoreboard for Dec. 10.

Brandeis heads into finals and the winter break with a 6-0 mark, and resumes play on Tuesday, January 3, 2006, when the Judges travel to Beverly, MA to take on Endicott.  After that, the UAA starts up when Brandeis hosts Carnegie Mellon and Rochester on Friday, Jan. 6, and Sun., Jan. 8 respectively.

[sandman]

Case enters the break at 4-3, after a close 54-51 loss to undefeated Kenyon; the wins are by an average of 17.5 points, while the losses are by an average of 3.3.  In the game, both teams made runs early on, and then most of the second half was back-and-forth, but Kenyon simply made more of their shots late in the game.  Also, Case only pulled down 31 rebounds as compared to their season average of 44.

From what I can tell so far (from the boxscores of each game), Case can hang with the stronger opponents until the end, but can't quite finish them off; there's still plenty of time in the season to improve, though.  When the schedule resumes, Case plays at Bluffton (2-6) on the 28th, and Muskingum (2-5) at home on the 30th, before they enter the grueling UAA season, beginning with Emory (5-1).

Ironically to Aqua Teen Hunger Force fans everywhere, Emory's only loss is to Oglethorpe.

[deiscanton]

At this stage in the game, the polls are a little fun to read....

Since #1 Millikin lost yesterday by 3 to Illinois College, this will probably guarantee that a UAA team will be in the top 3 for this upcoming week (and probably for next week as well...)

Wash U has a game next Saturday, whereas Brandeis does not, so I will not be surprised if Wash U overtakes Brandeis in the polls by next week if not sooner.  Actually, I'm not worried about that, since I favor Wash U to win at home in the UAA contests anyway, and the first Brandeis/Wash U match will be in St. Louis in January.   There is still a long way to go, though...

[archmadness]

Some comments on the WashU team. I've been attending most WashU home games, mens and womens, for about the past 15 years as I work at the University. This year's womens team is as good or better than any team they have had during that time, including the four D3 national champions. Admittedly they don't have a player quite as dominant as Alia Fischer was some years ago, but Kelly Manning is close. And the supporting cast is great. The freshman point guard from Hawaii (Dacanay) is terrific --two-time Hawaii player of the year and McDonalds High School All-American nominee-- and she doesn't even start. They seem to have plenty of outside shooting (which has been a problem at times in recent years) and enough ball handling/speed to deal with D3 presses. The WashU post players (Beehler and Parker) are, I think, strong enough and good enough to play with anyone. We'll see about that when they get Brandeis... Their tightest game thusfar was 11 points vs. DePauw, and it was not nearly as close as the final score might suggest. Not to jinx them this early, but I really think they could easily run the table this year. After some "down" years, WashU is back!