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The WPI Engineers won the opening tip-off of the 2008-09 season opener but that would be the only victory for them as Brandeis turned a first half shooting gallery proved to be enough to overcome a sloppy second half and walked away with the 67-54 victory.

“After about five weeks of practice, everyone was ready to go,” Brandeis head coach Carol Simon said after the game.

“First half we played extremely well.” Coach Simon said, “We really came out and dictated the offense and defense. We shot really well; our three point shooting was pretty amazing, 7 of 11 in the first half. Defensively, we took away some of the things they wanted to do. They’re a very good driving team and we did a really good job of that, really keeping them off the boards.”

The first half was all Brandeis as the team shot a scintillating 56% field goal percentage and put the game out of reach with a 19-2 run with 9:50 left to go in the half. The second half though brought back an unwelcome rehash of last year – second half struggles. WPI opened the half with a 10-2 run to close the gap to 13 points. Clutch free throw shooting for the Judges however were able to overcome 8-22 shooting in the second half and never held a lead smaller than 12 points for the rest of the match.

“They just wanted the ball a little more than we did,” co-captain Jessica Chapin ’10 said about WPI’s second half surge, “we were a little lacksidasical, thinking, you know, we’re up by twenty some-odd points and we can’t let down, we have to play a complete game.”

Jessica Chapin ’10 led the offense with 18 points on 7-14 shooting, 12 of those points coming in the first half. Chapin also had a game-high six steals. Lauren Orlando ’09 had 11 points and led the team with six rebounds in 21 minutes of action and was a perfect 4-4 from the field. Carmela Breslin ’10 led the bench scorers with 7 points. Coach Simon got a good initial look at the rookies starting with Kelly Ethier ’12 who got to start in her first ever collegiate game. Ethier had a quiet debut with one basket, two rebounds, two assists, two turnovers and a block. Morgan Kendrew ’12 opened her collegiate career with five points and four rebounds off the bench.

“They’re long and athletic,” Chapin said about her rookie teammates, “and that’s exactly the style of play we want to have on the team. They just to that and just let us run up and down the floor.” Elle Fontaine paced the losing effort for WPI with 15 points for the night while Caitlin Macko and Serena Dubois each had 10.

Brandeis will hope that the strong start will continue as they host the Tip-Off Tournament this weekend. The Judges open up with Widener on November 22 at 6 pm and then take on either Bowdoin or WCSU on November 23. The home stand continues with Wellesley coming down to Red Auerbach on November 25 at 5:30 pm.