Women’s Basketball Clipped at Brandeis, 66-51

WALTHAM, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College women's basketball team suffered a 66-51 setback at Brandeis Tuesday evening.

The Lions slip to 7-4 on the year with the result while the Judges improve to 5-4 overall.

Michala O'Donoghue (San Bruno, Calif.) poured in a career-high 14 points and grabbed six rebounds in her first start of the season. Sydni Oviatt (Fruit Heights, Utah) netted 10 points and collected nine boards. Ahidali DeHuelbes (Tucson, Ariz.) tallied a season-best eight points and seven rebounds while Shade Richardson (Lauderdale Lakes, Fla.) added seven points.

The home team chalked up the first nine points of the contest and stretched its lead to 18-2 with 3:47 remaining in the opening quarter.

The visitors trimmed the deficit to 20-10 through 10 minutes of action.

Brandeis outscored Eastern Nazarene 23-11 in the second frame to tout a 43-21 advantage at the halftime intermission.

The Lions shot just 23.7% from the floor and came up empty on all 10 three-point attempts in the first two quarters. The Judges posted a field-goal percentage of 50% in the opening half and connected on 6-of-15 from beyond the arc.

The guests notched a 17-12 edge in third-quarter scoring to narrow the margin to 55-38 heading into the final frame.

Eastern Nazarene cut the gap to 61-47 with 4:15 to go as O'Donoghue splashed her fourth trey of the night.

Despite the Lions edging Brandeis 13-11 in the fourth-quarter points, the Judges prevailed 66-51 to snap a four-game skid.

Eastern Nazarene concluded the game with a field-goal percentage of 27.6% while draining 4-of-22 attempts from three-point range. Brandeis shot 36.1% from the floor and 25% from long distance on the evening.

Kerry Tanke paced the hosts with 18 points while Camila Casanueva registered 13 points and nine rebounds.

Up next, Eastern Nazarene will host Norwich December 9 in the first-ever showdown between the two teams.