Fourth Quarter Blitz Powers No. 17 UChicago Past Brandeis
The 17th-ranked University of Chicago women's basketball team used a dominant fourth-quarter run to pull away from (RV) Brandeis, earning its third consecutive UAA victory on Friday night.
After three tightly contested quarters, the Maroons found their offensive stride in the fourth, going on a 24-8 run in the final frame. The Maroons have now outscored their last three opponents 63-22 in the final 10 minutes of each of their last three games.
UChicago set the tone early on the defensive end, forcing four turnovers in the opening quarter. After Brandeis scored the game's first basket, Chris Sanders answered with a pull-up jumper, followed by an Annabelle Spotts putback to spark a 7-0 UChicago run. The Maroons found their way to the basket a few more times after the run, carrying a 12-9 advantage into the second.
Heading into halftime, UChicago held a slim 23-19 lead, and after a back-and-forth third quarter, the Maroons entered the final frame with a 33-28 advantage.
Wasting no time out of the quarter break, Spotts scored six quick points to ignite the dominant run. Sanders then followed with a couple of three-pointers midway through the period as UChicago pushed the lead past 20 and never looked back. Ruiqi Liu closed out the matchup, scoring the final four points back-to-back for the Maroons.
Sanders led all scorers with a career-high 19 points off 7-14 shooting. Spotts followed with 13 points and eight rebounds, as Kasi Samuda recorded six points and six rebounds. Alexis Clark and Bri Simpson provided a spark off the bench, combining for eight rebounds and five steals.
UChicago finished with a 40–28 rebounding advantage, forced 18 turnovers, and went 17-19 from the free-throw line.
With the win, the Maroons improve to 11-3 on the season and 3-1 in UAA play.