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A new year is all about change but sometimes, the more things change, the more the stay the same. In this case, the New York University Women’s Basketball team extended its mastery over Brandeis with a 57-47 squeaker of a contest.

It all started in the Judges’ favor, with NYU shooting a frigid 24.2% and making only one free throw in the first half; at halftime Brandeis had a 24-18 lead. The Judges built their halftime lead to 11 points with 13:22 left, but then the game shifted entirely from underneath them. Going ice cold, they didn’t make a single field goal the in the final 8:49 following Amber Strodthoff’s ’11 lay-up. This proved to be costly, as the Violets soon went on a 17-2 run to close out the game.

Jessica McEntee was the unstoppable engine behind the Violets’ turnaround, picking up a double-double with 28 points on 9 of 18 shooting from the field and a gameleading 15 rebounds. McEntee also assisted on the lay-up that gave the Violets the lead for good. No other Violet came close to matching McEntee’s production, as forward Gena Brown had the second most points for NYU with seven.

Jaime Capra ’08 led the losing effort for Brandeis with 16 points and eight rebounds, both team highs. Rookie Amber Strodthoff ’11 provided some punch for Coach Carol Simon with 10 points off the bench.

The team, however, got snake bit in the second half, going 5 of 26 on field goal attempts and no three pointers to reward their seven attempts. Starting guard Jessica Chapin ’10 had a game she would probably love to forget, going 1 of 10 from the floor, and missing all six of her shot attempts in the second half, leaving her with five points to show for 32 minutes of effort.

2008 did start off well for Brandeis, as the Women polished off remaining non-conference foes Husson and Simmons 86-46 and 77-32 respectively. Lauren Orlando ’09 and Chapin lead the offense against Husson with 14 points each. Amanda Wells ’09 had 10 of her own and the team shot a season high 57.6%.

Thirteen of fifteen Judges broke into the scoring table against the Sharks, with Jaime Capra picking up 16 points in 15 minutes of action. Chapin had 12 points and second year forward Chelsey Dionne ’09 had nine rebounds off the bench.

Brandeis will hit the road tonight hoping for their first UAA victory as they take on Carnegie-Mellon at six and then it’s up to New York to take on Rochester.

With Brandeis shut out of the top 25 voting, the window grows smaller for Brandeis to make it into the NCAA tournament. Wins on the road would definitely put the Judges on a smoother course. Time is on their side, but there’s only so much time left.