The Maroons are set to kick off their third UAA weekend of the season with their first home doubleheader. After a long weekend of traveling, the Maroons eagerly welcome to Chicago both Brandeis and NYU. 

This past weekend had its highs and lows, with a big upset against No. 23 Rochester only to be followed by a tough loss to Emory. Following two big wins against ranked teams to start the UAA season, the loss to Emory stung, but the Maroons look to build off this, not taking any team lightly from here on out. The squad is learning from every game and every opponent, building on each outing.

Chicago sits at a clip of 9–3, 2–1 UAA and are thus in a five-way tie for first place in the UAA. Though still early in the season, the UAA is proving to be competitive as always. With their sights set on the UAA podium, the Maroons look to sweep this weekend.

The Maroons have spent the week preparing for Brandeis in particular, in an effort to not get ahead of themselves. Second-year Rachel West elaborated, “we try to focus on taking each game one at a time, so we’ve been primarily focusing on our game against Brandeis this Friday.” 

 The first game of the home doubleheader will pit Chicago against the Judges (10–4, 2–1 UAA). Brandeis has been relying on Paris Hodges, who is averaging 11.8 points per game and Maria Jackson, who netted 22 points against Carnegie Mellon University this past weekend to carry them into this weekend. 

The Maroons, however, have a solid game plan to combat Brandeis’s offense. “We know that Brandeis plays similar to Emory in that they held off drives from the ball side and that their wing defenders will take away gaps,” West said. “So, in practice we’ve been mimicking their defense and focusing on making hard cuts on offense and trying to attack baseline, either with drives or passes into our posts.”The Maroons will need to have a quick turnaround after Brandeis to be ready to face off against NYU on Sunday. NYU (10–4, 0–3 UAA) landed just outside of the top 25 rankings this week. While NYU has yet to win a game in conference, they have had a strong season thus far, and are not one to take lightly. Their 0–3 record in the UAA is a testament to the strength of the UAA rather than a slight against them. 

Second chance points have been a big part of both teams’ game, as Chicago and NYU are tied at the top of the Offensive Rebounds per Game rankings in the conference. After last weekend, the squad recognizes the importance in changing gears to the next opponent right away. These doubleheader weekends are incredibly challenging because of this but the Maroons see this weekend as a good test. 

Tip-off for Friday’s matchup against Brandeis is set for 6 p.m., while Sunday’s game will follow the men’s game and is slotted to begin at 2 p.m.