Women's Basketball Stunned by Brandeis, 80-79

WALTHAM, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University women's basketball team was handed a stunning last-minute loss by Brandeis University on Thursday night.

Holding an 18-point lead in the third quarter and in front by nine points with 3:24 to go in the game, the Bears were unable to hold off the Judges and lost, 80-79, at Red Auerbach Arena.

A layup by sophomore Katherine Vaughn (Bedford, Mass.) with eight seconds remaining gave Brandeis the victory.

BSU (3-5) had led the entire game until Brandeis went up, 78-77, with 1:04 remaining. The only other time the Bears trailed was when Vaughn scored following a steal by senior Selenya Gonzalez (Springfield, Mass.).

It marks the third straight game between BSU and Brandeis that was decided by one point with the Bears winning the past two years, 74-73, and 70-69. The Judges are now 1-3 against BSU.

Junior Kylie Grassi (Plymouth, Mass.) led BSU with 26 points on 10-for-16 shooting to go with nine rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Senior Sydney Bradbury (East Bridgewater, Mass.) made three 3-pointers and scored 16 points (11 in the first half) to go with six rebounds and four assists for the Bears while Sophia Gaucher (Lakeville, Mass.) added 12 points and six rebounds.

Also contributing for BSU were junior Arielle Cleveland (Groveland, Mass.) with eight points and six rebounds and junior Jessica D'Amours (Feeding Hills, Mass.) with nine points and six rebounds.

Gonzalez was Brandeis' top scorer with 17 points on 7-for-11 shooting while junior Lulu Ohm (Waltham, Mass.) had 15 points and five assists and Vaughn chipped in with 14 points, eight rebounds and two blocks.

BSU took a 63-54 lead into the final quarter but was outscored, 25-15, the rest of the way.

The Bears were ahead, 75-66, when Grassi scored on a layup with 3:24 remaining, only to have the Judges finish on a 14-4 run to grab the win.

Gonzalez hit a 3-pointer and sophomore Molly James (Pittsburgh, Pa.) made a layup to pull Brandeis within 75-71 with 2:42 to go. Gaucher hit a layup to give the Bears a 77-71 lead, but Ohm made a 3-pointer and Gonzalez hit a jumper to make it 77-76 with 1:38 remaining.

A jumper by Ohm with 1:04 left put Brandeis in front for the first time at 78-77, but Bradbury answered with a layup with 47.2 seconds remaining for a 79-78 BSU lead.

After making a stop, the Bears got the ball back only to turn it over as Gonzalez came up with a clutch steal off a sideline inbounds pass which led to an unassisted game-winning layup by Vaughn with 8.4 seconds remaining. BSU had one more chance but an Ohm steal with two seconds left ended its hopes.

BSU was in front, 24-12, after one quarter, racing out to a 14-5 lead, and a Jordan Peebles (Middleboro, Mass.) layup extended the margin to 20-7. Grassi's jumper with 21 seconds left gave the Bears their biggest lead of the quarter at 24-9.

Brandeis went on a 9-1 run to start the second quarter to move within 25-21, but a jumper by Grassi and a 3-pointer by Gaucher gave the Bears a 30-21 lead.

The Judges got within four later in the quarter before BSU took a 45-37 lead into the locker room.

A 14-4 run to open the second half extended the BSU lead to 18 points at 59-41. Six different Bears scored during the run.

The Judges battled back, holding the Bears to just five points over the final 4 ½ minutes of the third quarter thanks in large part to poor BSU free throw shooting. Bridgewater went 2-for-8 at the stripe during that stretch. A pair of Abby Kennedy (Half Moon Bay, Calif.) three-pointers helped Brandeis cut the deficit to nine (64-55) heading into the final period.

The Bears shot 48 percent while Brandeis hit just 39 percent. The Judges held a 13-5 edge in 3-pointers while BSU missed 9 of 21 foul shots.

The Bears are on the road again Saturday, facing Wheaton College at 3 p.m. Brandeis (4-6) is idle until Jan. 2 when it faces Clark University.