Women's Basketball | Jumbos gear up for NESCACs

    With a bitter taste in its mouth from two straight NESCAC title game losses, the women's basketball team will open up the conference tournament Saturday against the Wesleyan Cardinals.
    The third-seeded Jumbos, who lost the championship game a year ago to Amherst and two years ago to Bowdoin, will begin their title chase anew at Cousens Gym this weekend. For Tufts (20-3, 7-2 NESCAC), Saturday's game marks the beginning of what the team has been building toward for the entire season. Before it can build on last year's Elite Eight showing in the NCAA Tournament, the team will have to make its way through what will undoubtedly prove to be a very challenging NESCAC field.
    "As a team, we're very excited," junior forward Julia Baily said. "We have played Wesleyan before and know them pretty well. We are hoping to come out and play a solid game in both halves, something we have been unable to really do in the past. We're being really positive and we're excited to have the third seed in a really competitive conference."
    Two years ago, the heavily favored Polar Bears beat the Jumbos 64-48 for their seventh NESCAC championship in a row. Last season, in a meeting of the conference's then-top two teams, the Jumbos dropped a closer contest, 59-53, to the top-seeded Lord Jeffs. With title game experience from the past two years now in their back pockets, the Jumbos hope to finally get over the last hurdle on the way to a NESCAC trophy.
    "That's the goal, to get back into the championship game and have a different outcome than the last couple of years," coach Carla Berube said. "It's an added incentive — it gets our fire burning, and we'll be up for it."
    The nationally ranked No. 15 Jumbos beat the Wesleyan Cardinals on Jan. 30 at Cousens Gym by a 75-63 margin. Senior co-captain Kim Moynihan led the charge with a career-high 26 points as Tufts came back from a 30-27 halftime deficit to notch the victory. Before that, Tufts' last win over Wesleyan was in the semifinals of last year's NESCAC Tournament.
    This year's Cardinals are led by senior guard Ali Fourney, who leads the conference with 18.8 points per game, and graduate co-captain Lucy Sprung, who is third with 14.5. Following their loss at Tufts three weeks ago, the Cardinals (12-10, 4-5 NESCAC) won three of their final four conference games.
    "They have two very good offensive players that could be playing their last game," Berube said. "It's a team that we know fairly well, just playing them over the years. They're very well coached and they run their stuff well, and we've got to be at the top of our game. I'm sure they'll be in here trying to keep their season going, so we've got to come out with fire and intensity and play Jumbo basketball."
    Tufts has won eight of its last nine games, and the team is on a roll heading into the tournament. The Jumbos are coming off a regular-season finale victory at Worcester State, 58-47, that was good for their 20th win of the year. Still, the win wasn't as convincing as the Jumbos may have liked.
    "We were taking bad shots. We just couldn't find the basket … and that happens when you're going into somebody else's gym on a weeknight," Berube said. "We had some wide-open shots that hopefully we'll hit in our own gym here on Saturday."
    To achieve its ultimate goal and win that elusive NESCAC championship, Tufts won't be taking any opponent lightly as it attempts to move through the tournament brackets, and the matchup against Wesleyan is the first challenge it will have to face on the long road to the ultimate goal.
    "It's huge," Berube said. "It's our goal, it's our big goal of the season to win the NESCAC Championship. Saturday's our first step. It's the biggest game of the year and our last home game of the season, most likely, so we'll definitely be up for it. We need a great effort by all, and I'm sure we'll get it."