WALTHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University women's basketball team put three players in double digits in scoring tonight as the Judges opened their 2019-20 season with a 71-45 victory over the Nichols College Bison in Red Auerbach Arena tonight as part of the Brandeis Tip-Off Tournament, presented by the Park Lodge Hotel Group. The Judges are now 1-0, Nichols falls to 1-1.
Brandeis was paced by junior center Jillian Petrie (Marlborough, Mass./Marlborough), who scored 12 points on 5-of-8 from the field with a pair of 3-pointers. The 12 points were four shy of her career-best. Rookie Emma Reavis (Miami, Okla./Deerfield Academy) made a splash in her debut with 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting, 1-of-2 from deep, and 2-of-2 from the line. She also tied for game-high honors with four assists and three steals while grabbing five rebounds. A second junior forward, Samira Abdelrehim (Burlington, Conn./Lewis S. Mills) had a fine game off the bench, scoring 10 points and tying for game-high honors with eight rebounds (three offensive). Junior guard Camila Casanueva (Santa Barbara, Calif./Dos Pueblos) nearly made it four players in double figures in scoring with nine points. She also had five rebounds and two assists. Sophomore forward Shannon Smally (Foxborough, Mass./Foxborough) matched Reavis's four assists, while Petrie also had three steals.
Nichols was led by rookie reserve Alexis Finnerty, who had 10 points on 4-of-11 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 from the line. Rookie Gina Parmenter and junior Shannon St. Lawrence led the Bison starters with eight points each. St. Lawrence also had a game-high 11 rebounds, two offensive. Junior guard Isabella Nerney tied for game-high honors with four assists.
Brandeis didn't trail after the first six minutes of the game. Nichols had a 7-4 lead after a Nerney 3-pointer, but Brandeis scored the next eight points of the contest and never looked back. The Judges led, 17-11, after one period, then opened the second on an 8-1 run to make it 25-12 on a Casanueva jumper with 6:35 left n the half. Brandeis owned a 32-21 lead at halftime behind seven points from Petrie and six from rookie Francesca Marchese (Staten Island, N.Y./Staten Island Academy). The Judges pulled away in the third quarter, netting the first nine points of the stanza and outscoring the Bison, 21-8, for the period. Seven different players contributed in the third.
Brandeis played terrific team defense, holding Nichols to 22.4% shooting from the floor (17-76) and just 9.7% from 3-point range (3-31). The Bison hit just one of their first 21 attempts from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, the Judges hit on 42.2% from the field (27-64) and 38.1% from deep (8-21). Brandeis had a slim 50-49 edge in rebounding, but NC had 22 offensive boards to 11 for the Judges.
Brandeis will meet Framingham State tomorrow at 2 p.m. in the Tip-Off Tournament championship game, while Nichols will take on Eastern Nazarene in the consolation game at 12 noon. FSU defeated ENC, 59-51, behind 19 points from Mary Kate O'Day and 11 from Flannery O'Connor off the bench.