Tufts women’s basketball beat Clarks Summit and DeSales this weekend to advance to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament. Despite losing to Amherst in the semifinals of the NESCAC tournament, the team received a bid and high seeding for the NCAA tournament, allowing for a Jumbo home court advantage in Cousens Gym. On Friday night, the Jumbos confidently defeated the Clarks Summit Defenders 84–54. To finish off the weekend, they beat the DeSales Bulldogs 58–47.
Against the Defenders, the Jumbos came out and secured an early and large lead, ending the quarter ahead 22–7. A combination of strong defense and good ball movement on offense allowed for a successful quarter that would dictate the remainder of the contest. The lead was clearly not going anywhere as Tufts continued to make stops on defense and shoot well from the field and beyond the arc. Given the strong hold on the game, every healthy player on the Jumbos roster entered the game. The Tufts bench ended up contributing 32 points to the total score.
Senior guard Molly Ryan said the Jumbos went into their first NCAA with focus.
“At this point, it’s the NCAA tournament, so every moment counts,” Ryan said. “[You] win, you go on; you lose, you go home. So, we came out very, very strong. [There was] a lot of energy, especially on the defensive end.”
Sophomore guard Callie O’Brien put up an impressive 15 points and six assists. Graduate student guard Erin Poindexter McHan tied O’Brien’s 15 points, and sophomore forward Maggie Russell was right behind with 14 points. Senior forward Sofia Rosa led the Jumbos in rebounds, securing 10 for the night.
In the second round against DeSales, Tufts had a bit more competition from its opponent. At the end of the first quarter, the score was tied 14–14. Both teams moved the ball well and found shots inside the paint. Defensively, both teams were aggressive and focused, exchanging difficult stops. As the game progressed, momentum started favoring Tufts due to strong defense and offensive efforts by Ryan and Russell. However, generally the Jumbos were not as offensively productive as they typically are.
O’Brien said focused defense made up for that offensive deficiency.
“We really just focused on one play at a time,” O’Brien said. “On defense, we, again, were focusing on our intensity and just playing as a unit on defense, and I think we did a great job of that. … There were some points where we also weren’t scoring as much as we usually do, but we were able to just get stop after stop on defense which allowed us to keep the lead.”
Russell led the team statistically, finishing with 20 points and 13 rebounds for the night. Ryan was not far behind with 14 points.
Heading into the Sweet Sixteen, the Jumbos are facing a worthy adversary in the Amherst Mammoths. Tufts fell to Amherst once in the regular season and again in the NESCAC tournament. Amherst finished as runner-up to the Bates Bobcats, but the Mammoths will look to extend their solid season and go deep in the NCAA playoffs. The game will be at Amherst on Friday.
O’Brien said the team is excited to get another crack at Amherst.
“We’re pumped up,” O’Brien said. “Honestly, we were watching their game to get here too, and it was a close one. I honestly think we were all rooting for them because we want to go through them, and I think that's the best way to do it. So we’re excited.”
