The goal of the womens basketball team at the beginning of the season was to win the NESCAC Championship. By the end of the season, the team had not only met that goal they had blown all expectations out of the water.
Despite being ranked No. 1 in the conference, the Jumbos saw their NESCAC championship campaign end early last year, suffering a first-round loss to all-time conference champion leaders Bowdoin, 60-54. 13 seasons after the start of the conference championships, the trophy continued to elude all but two teams: the Bowdoin Polar Bears and the Amherst Lord Jeffs, who had won the last four NESCAC titles. But this year, Tufts insisted on breaking Amhersts stranglehold on the championship.
The NESCAC Championship our team ha[d] never won that, junior center Hayley Kanner said. We came into the season with that being the primary goal.
After the opening weekend that saw Tufts just edge past its first two opponents Baldin Wallace and Rochester by one and four points, respectively, Tufts dominated its next 10 opponents, winning by 14 or more points in each game, including an impressive 70-44 dismissal of Middlebury on Jan. 12 in its first NESCAC matchup of the season.
The victory over Middlebury gave Tufts confidence for what was arguably its first true test of the season a matchup against Amherst on Jan. 17.
Both teams came into the game undefeated. Despite competing against one of the best teams in the NESCAC, Tufts was undeterred, and fought its way to a 25-25 tie at halftime. With three lead changes in the first 14 minutes of the second half, the Lord Jeffs pulled ahead by one, 50-49, with 5:46 left in the game, before the Jumbos went on a 14-6 run to secure the win.
Just like that, the seven-year drought against Amherst was over.
Avoiding the post-victory hangover, Tufts handed Trinity its first conference loss of the season the next day, never letting the Bantams get closer than eight points in the second half.
With this pair of wins, Tufts moved to the top of the NESCAC standings as the only remaining undefeated team in the conference. The Jumbos went on to win their next seven contests, including four against conference opponents, bringing their winning streak to 21 games.
Finally, on Feb. 11, Tufts suffered its first setback of the season. Despite being up 32-13 at the half, the all-too-familiar Tufts early lead resulted in an unfamiliar ending, as non-conference rival Babson defeated Tufts 58-52 for its first loss of the season. The loss, which hurt neither the Jumbos conference standings nor tournament chances, was still a painful one to swallow for the team.
The Babson game was a good kick in the butt that we needed, head coach Carla Berube said. It was never a goal of mine to start the season undefeated, but it was too bad [the loss] was on our own court. That [is something] we want to defend at all costs.
Against Babson, Tufts allowed 45 points in the second half alone, and for a team with a conference-best defense, such a showing was not ideal preparation for the upcoming NESCAC tournament.
However, a win against Colby in Tufts penultimate regular season game secured the team the top seed in the conference tournament.
Amhersts loss to Tufts earlier in the season relegated them to second place, even though it remained undefeated against its remaining opponents. Thus, the Lord Jeffs would have to surrender home-court advantage if both they and the Jumbos reached the NESCAC finals.
And both teams did.
En route to the NESCAC Championship game, Tufts dispatched eighth-seeded Wesleyan 74-46, and fourth-seeded Trinity, 57-47, while Amherst took care of seventh-seeded Hamilton, 78-33, and third-seeded Bowdoin, 45-42.
Unlike previous face-offs, Tufts was the favorite against Amherst. And for the second time this season, the Jumbos didnt disappoint.
Behind Kanners 21 points, the Jumbos defeated the Lord Jeffs, 62-46, for their first-ever NESCAC title, earning them an automatic berth to the NCAA Championship field.
When the tournament began, Tufts first swept aside St. Josephs (Maine), 66-43, before beating University of New England, 57-54, behind senior tri-captain Liz Moynihans buzzer-beating 3-pointer in overtime, and reached the Sweet 16 for the second straight year.
And the Jumbos kept winning. After blowing past Castleton by 20 and edging out Ithaca by just two, Tufts found itself within the top four Div. III teams in the country a position it had never reached before.
Against Farleigh Dickinson University-Florham (FDU-Florham) in the Final Four, Tufts faced a strong offensive team one that averaged 81 points per game and kept it in check, holding FDU-Florham to just 42. However, down 42-39, Tufts top-scoring guard Foleys last-second shot to tie the game at the buzzer fell off the mark, and the teams whirlwind season came to an end. Tufts followed up the loss with the third-place consolation game, losing 72-54 to Wisconsin-Whitewater.
I would not have traded this [chance in the final weekend of the NCAA tournament] for anything, Moynihan said. If we really step back and see what we really accomplished as a team our first NESCAC title and an undefeated NESCAC season, hosting the first and second rounds of the NCAAs all these things are such an amazing accomplishment, and Im so proud of my team.
Tufts will be graduating three seniors tri-captains Moynihan, Ali Rocchi and Caitlin McClure cornerstones of the team whose contributions really made the difference this season.12
