By Jim Fenton

WALTHAM, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University women's basketball team struggled through a rough third quarter and dropped its fifth straight game Wednesday night.

After trailing by one point at halftime, the Bears were outscored, 23-7, in the third quarter and were defeated by Brandeis University, 61-46, at the Red Auerbach Arena.

BSU (1-5) missed 13 of 16 shots, incliuding all eight of its 3-pointers, in that quarter when the Judges (8-1) took control for the non-conference victory.

The Bears were led by junior Sophie Bradbury (East Bridgewater, Mass.) with 14 points and four rebounds. Bradbury made three 3-pointers.

Freshman Emilie von der Linden (Sanbornville, N.H.) added 11 points on 5-for7 shooting and had seven rebounds and four blocked shots.

Brandeis had one player in double figures with senior Abby Kennedy (Half Moon Bay, Calif.) scoring 26 points. She was 6-for-9 on 3-pointers and had a pair of assists.

The Judges won despite shooting only 30 percent (20-for-67) from the floor. They had a 47-36 edge in rebounds, 18-8 at the offensive end.

BSU made 33 percent of its shots and had 22 turnovers leading to 20 points.

There were nine lead changes in the game with the Bears being in front for just 6:20. Brandeis held its biggest lead of 66-31 with 7:34 to go.

BSU trailed, 17-13, after one quarter. The game was even at 10-10 before the Judges scored seven points in a row, Kennedy contributing a jumper and a 3-pointer.

The Bears pulled within four with seven seconds to go in the quarter on a 3-pointer by freshman Savannah Azoff (Sandwich, Mass.).

BSU took a 21-19 lead early in the second quarter as Bradbury made two 3-pointers and sophomore Bridgitt O'Sullivan-Van Etten (Cumberland, R.I.) hit a jumper.

A von der Linden layup pushed the Bears in front, 23-22, but sophomore Jazzy Perez (Johns Creek, Ga.) gave Brandeis a 24-23 halftime lead with a jumper with 26 seconds remaining.

BSU took a 25-24 lead 49 seconds into the second half on a Bradbury 3-pointer. She made a foul shot with 8:09 left in the third quarter to cut Brandeis' lead to 27-26.

The Judges then went on a 12-0 run for a 39-26 lead, and the Bears never threatened again.

Brandeis went on that run over 4:43 as BSU missed 11 straight shots. A layup by von der Linden with 1:22 to go made it 39-28, and the Judges held a 47-30 lead going into the final 10 minutes.

In the fourth quarter, a jumper by graduate student Elena Delicado (Madrid, Spain) gave the Judges their largest lead at 55-31 with less than eight minutes to play.

BSU will be at home Friday at 7 p.m. to play Eastern Connecticut State in its final game before going to Las Vegas, Nev., at the end of the month for a pair of games.

Brandeis, which is 5-0 at home, will be in Cambridge Saturday at 1 p.m. to go against MIT.