Fresh off a 57-40 NESCAC quarterfinal victory over Conn. College this past weekend, the No. 2 seed women's basketball team will take on Bowdoin tomorrow at Amherst in the semifinals of the conference tournament. The winner will face either No. 1 Amherst or No. 4 Colby in the finals on Sunday.
The Polar Bears, the third seed with a record of 19-6, beat Wesleyan last weekend by a 16-point margin.
The Jumbos, who have never won a NESCAC title and are making their first semifinal appearance in three years, will be looking for revenge after the Polar Bears defeated them by a single point on Jan. 13. Tufts, which ranks second in Div. III in scoring defense, gave up an uncharacteristically high 57 points, well above their season average of 45.2. The Jumbos will need to do a better job defensively this time around.
"We have been going over how to defend them in practice," said senior guard Tiffany Kornegay, who is in the top five in the NESCAC in both rebounding and steals. "Coach [Carla Berube] is going over the sets they like to run based on their [NESCAC quarterfinal] game from Saturday so we know how to defend them."
The key for the Jumbos will be containing NESCAC Player of the Year frontrunner senior guard Jill Henrikson.
Henrikson, who leads the NESCAC with 17.2 points per game and 2.84 steals per game -- plus a second-best 89.3 percent mark from the charity stripe -- torched the Jumbos for 19 points on 60 percent shooting in their last matchup. The three-time Player of the Week's well-rounded offensive game, coupled with her on-ball defensive prowess, has given opponents nightmares all season. Shutting her down, or at least containing her, will be crucial for Tufts to stay with the Polar Bears in points as the Jumbos have no players averaging above nine points per game. Kornegay, who is a top candidate for NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year, will likely be called upon to match up with Bowdoin's superstar.
"We just know she is a versatile player," Kornegay said of Henrikson. "She can shoot the three well and she loves to drive right. We need to know where she is on the court at all times and focus on closing out on her with a hand in her face."
"I think we need to play great team defense and just play our game," added senior co-captain Kate Barnosky, who leads the team with nine points per game. "We need a great all-around effort from everyone."
The Jumbos will look to make better use of their inside game on Saturday than they did last time against Bowdoin. The Polar Bears have no players over six feet tall, and the Jumbos will be focused on working the ball down low to their best post players — Barnosky and 6-foot-2 freshman Hayley Kanner. Defensively, Bowdoin's lack of height will also allow Tufts to switch on ball screens.
"Last game [against Bowdoin], we had a problem keeping the floor spread and taking advantage of opportunities down low," Kornegay said. "We didn't see them when we were playing, but watching film we noticed things we can take advantage of."
With a victory on Saturday, the Jumbos would most likely take on top seed and national No. 1 Amherst, barring a miracle upset from Colby. The undefeated defending national champions have won 61 straight games on their home floor and enter this weekend as heavy favorites to take the NESCAC crown. No one has had an answer for the Lord Jeffs this season, including the Jumbos, who managed just 31 points against them on Feb. 4.
Right now though, the team's focus is on Saturday's game against Bowdoin, which will tip off at Amherst's LeFrak Gymnasium at 3 p.m.
"The key for us this weekend is going to be our communication on defense," Kornegay said. "We saw in film [on Wednesday] that they definitely took advantage of our lapses and miscommunications."
"We need to attack from the start and play our best basketball for all 40 minutes," Barnosky said.
