UChicago Secures UAA Road Win at Brandeis
The 19th-ranked University of Chicago women's basketball team earned a wire-to-wire win on Friday night over Brandeis. With the 59-43 win, the Maroons improved to 17-5 overall and 9-3 in UAA play.
UChicago established control immediately, opening the scoring with a technical free throw before the first possession and quickly building a 5-0 advantage behind back-to-back layups from Alexis Clark. The Maroons' defensive pressure set the tone early, forcing four turnovers within the first seven minutes of play. At the end of the first, the Maroons led 15-11, boosted by two late three-pointers from Karen Xin.
Brandeis came back firing in the second, cutting the lead to one in the first few seconds of play. UChicago responded as Annabelle Spotts drilled a three to put the lead back to four. A few minutes later, Chris Sanders sparked a key stretch with a layup and a three, Bri Simpson added a pair of free throws, and Spotts scored in the lane to bring momentum back to the side of the Maroons. In the closing moments of the half, Caroline Workman drilled two three-pointers on back-to-back possessions in the final 31 seconds, sending the Maroons into halftime with a commanding 37-24 lead.
Brandeis made its strongest push early in the third quarter, trimming the margin to nine, but the Maroons answered each run. Both teams traded points back and forth before both went scoreless for three minutes. Zora Burrell hit a free throw to diminish the scoring drought and bring UChicago's lead back to 12. The Maroons entered the fourth quarter ahead 51-36 after closing the period with free throws from Sanders.
The Judges cut the lead to 51-42 midway through the final quarter, forcing UChicago to call a timeout. Clark responded for the Maroons with a layup off a feed from Kate Gross to halt the Judges' momentum. From there, the Maroons locked in defensively, allowing just one field goal over the final six minutes while converting free throws and a layup by Kasi Samuda to secure the 16-point victory.
Workman led UChicago with 11 points on a perfect 3-for-3 shooting from long range. Sanders added 10 points, four assists, and a perfect 5-for-5 performance at the charity stripe, while Clark recorded 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Spotts contributed nine points and five boards.