Twenty minutes into the season, everything was going right for the women's basketball team. Their fast-paced offense had put up 39 points, and they led No. 7 Babson by nine at the break.
But the Jumbos couldn't sustain it, losing the lead in the second half and eventually falling, 73-64. The team struggled to bounce back the following day, losing 70-51 to an unspectacular Whitman College to complete a disappointing opening weekend.
Facing off against a Babson team that included two d3hoops.com pre-season All-American post players, Tufts came out looking to exploit their advantage at the guard position and to run the ball up and down the court. With the energy of a team just beginning its season, the Jumbos did just that. Freshman point guard Kelsey Morehead finished the first half with 11 points, while senior guard Tiffany Kornegay added nine to go with three steals. Up 15-14, Tufts went on a 22-11 run that included three-pointers from four different players and left them up 12 with just three minutes left in the half.
"Our energy was extremely high," Kornegay said. "We came out so strong and aggressive on defense, we attacked on offense, and we got a lot of transition points. They'd put up a shot, we'd get the rebound and we'd just fly and have people driving or on the perimeter ready to catch and shoot. Babson just didn't have an answer for it in the first half."
But in the second half, the Jumbos struggled to maintain the fire that had fueled them to their sizable lead. The Beavers took advantage, putting together a 14-6 run in the first five and a half minutes, largely by pounding the ball inside to one of their preseason All-Americans, junior Sarah Collins. After a pair of threes from freshman Erin Young, Babson had all but erased Tufts' lead, cutting the score to 45-44.
"Our energy dropped a little bit, and we just weren't hitting as many shots," senior forward Kate Barnosky said. "I think our mental toughness isn't quite there yet, but I think it will be there later in the season."
From there the game became a back-and-forth battle, with neither team capable of building up a lead larger than four points for the next 10 minutes. But after coming within three with just under four minutes to go, the Jumbos shot just 1-for-6 from the field while turning the ball over twice in their next six possessions. This allowed the Beavers to build up an 11-point lead that all but iced the game, securing a victory for the ranked side.
"I think in the end it's going to work out to our benefit that we don't have just one key player but instead have a lot of options and we can just see who's having the best game," Barnosky said of her team's offense down the stretch.
Though it was a tough loss to swallow for the Jumbos, there were definite positives to be taken from such a strong effort.
"We're going to play teams with posts that strong," Kornegay said. "Just to know that we only lost by nine to a team ranked fifth in the country shows that we are better than what other teams expect. It was still a loss, but for our first game, I don't think it was the worst."
Kornegay led the Jumbos with 17 points on the night, also contributing seven rebounds and three steals. The Beavers had both of their All-American caliber players put up double-doubles: Collins had 18 points and 14 boards while senior Nicki Wurdeman had a game-high 21 points and 10 rebounds.
"I came out fired up, just ready to go out there and get to it, and I think a lot of my energy transferred over to my teammates," Kornegay said.
Just 15 hours after the end of the Babson contest, Tufts was on the court again to take on Whitman College, a school from Walla Walla, Wash., that specializes in guard play. The Jumbos did not come out with the same energy that they had shown against the Beavers, and after keeping close for much of the first half, they let the Missionaries jump out in front, taking a six-point lead into the half.
Much like Saturday, Tufts looked flat coming out of the locker room. After Barnosky hit a jump shot to pull the Jumbos to within four points, they failed to make a field goal for over five minutes. Whitman capitalized, scoring 10 straight points to take a commanding 43-29 lead. Tufts managed to narrow the margin back down to seven with just under 10 minutes to play, but then went cold again, allowing a 13-3 run for the Missionaries over more than four minutes that put the game away; the Jumbos never cut the lead down to single digits the rest of the way.
"We didn't have the same energy that we brought to the Babson game," Barnosky said. "We had a bit of the first weekend jitters to get off our chest, and we just weren't all there."
Whitman got contributions from all over the court on Sunday, with seven players amassing at least six points. Junior Collier Clegg led Tufts in scoring, totaling 13 points while shooting 4-of-7 from beyond the arc. Barnosky also looked more comfortable in her second game back from injury, adding nine points and eight rebounds.
One of the high points this weekend was the Jumbos' Class of 2015. Morehead had a strong performance Saturday, finishing with 15 points, two assists and two steals. She also looked comfortable running the offense as the point guard in both games, a tall task for a first-year player, while leading the team in minutes played.
"It's not easy coming in as a freshman and playing point guard," Kornegay said. "She held her own and she controlled the floor well. She was confident in herself, and me and her fed off of each other."
Fellow freshman Hayley Kanner had an equally impressive showing the following day against Whitman, taking advantage of their weak post players to finish with 12 points and seven rebounds. As the tallest player on the Jumbos roster by three inches, continued strong play from Kanner could be vital down the road.
"Hayley is our biggest post, and she made some big time moves," Barnosky said. "It was great to see bursts of greatness from both [Kanner and Morehead]."
After a disappointing weekend, the Jumbos know how important the coming week will be. On Tuesday, Tufts' hosts Colby-Sawyer, who they have beaten handily every year since beginning a series with them during the 2007-2008 season. A loss would give them their first three-game losing streak within one season since 2006-2007.
"We need to bounce back," Barnosky said. "This weekend was tough, but we had some good moments, and we can look back at our strengths and weaknesses from the weekend and learn. We can definitely bounce back and win on Tuesday, because we learned on Saturday that we can hang with the best."
