Bowdoin hands Tufts first loss of season

Last year, Tufts beat Bowdoin 65-55 in the two teams' regular season meeting. Two weeks later, the Jumbos squared off with the Polar Bears again, this time for the NESCAC championship. Again, Tufts took home the win and, with it, earned a second consecutive conference title.

On Saturday in Brunswick, Maine, though, Bowdoin flipped the script. In a non-conference matchup against the No. 3 Jumbos, the Polar Bears won handily 61-43. This game gave the two teams a sneak peek at what competitive conference play will look like come January when the NESCAC season officially starts.

"All NESCAC games and NESCAC teams are gonna be tough, and they're gonna want to compete with us," junior center Michela North said. "I, personally, have beat Bowdoin...four times [in the past two years], so they were definitely out to get us, and every team that plays us is going to give us their best because we have a target on our backs from previous years. They're just going to want to beat us every time, and so we need to bring the energy and rise to the occasion."

Tufts shot 31 percent from the floor and turned the ball over 20 times compared to Bowdoin's 16 turnovers. Despite starting the game on an 8-0 run, Tufts soon surrendered the lead to Bowdoin, who took over for good with about two minutes to play in the first quarter. Junior tri-captain guard Josie Lee kicked the scoring off with back-to-back buckets, and then senior tri-captain guard Emma Roberson and sophomore point guard Lauren Dillon converted layups to add to the initial Tufts lead.

The Jumbos struggled to keep things moving, however, a credit to the defensive pressure of the Polar Bears who stepped up into press. They failed to score a basket for a six-minute-long stretch of time leading into the second quarter.

"Bowdoin played great defense, and they had a lot of ball pressure," North said. "It was hard for us to execute and even set up our plays. I mean, their press made it so that we only had about 20 seconds each time to actually run a play, so it was tough getting going and actually getting some baskets. But I think those are definitely things we can work on in practice this week and definitely in the three games this week."

The Polar Bears were led by senior co-captain Shannon Brady who totaled 27 points throughout the game and scored 10 in the second quarter alone. She tacked on 15 rebounds and four blocks as well. Bowdoin was able to expand its lead to as many as 17 by the end of the second quarter.

Roberson said the Jumbos' stagnant offensive performance was caused by a mix of Bowdoin's defensive efforts and Tufts' trouble executing.

"I think it was a combination of the two," she said. "Bowdoin is a really tough defensive team; we knew that going in. They played a 2-2-1 press on us. We don't see a lot of presses, so I think it's a combination of that, the fact that they were playing aggressive on-the-ball defense kind of forcing us to make bad passes and even kind of just dribble right into them. We had some bad turnovers. But I think it was also us, too. We're trying to execute our offenses, [but] we didn't do a great job of it. You know, they came out ready to play, and we didn't have our best game."

After halftime, Tufts was able to make up a little ground but could not push the Bowdoin lead to any fewer than 10. North and sophomore forward Melissa Baptista scored a combined 13 points in the third quarter. Tufts limited Bowdoin to just nine points in the period, but Bowdoin started the fourth quarter on a 7-2 run to put the game out of reach for good.

Bowdoin's other statistical leaders were sophomore guard Kate Kerrigan (nine points, four rebounds, three steals, three assists) and junior guard Marle Curle (eight points, five rebounds, four assists).

The Jumbos were led by Roberson's 18 points and five rebounds. Roberson is also leading the team in points per game with 13.3. Baptista scored eight points and pulled down six rebounds, while North and Lee both added seven points apiece. The Jumbos' bench was held scoreless throughout the game.

Another telling comparison was the 3-point percentage between the two teams. Bowdoin hit 46 percent of its attempted 3-pointers (7-for-15), while Tufts converted on just 20 percent (3-of-15) shots from beyond the arc.

While an early season loss is tough to sustain for a team hoping to reach the NCAA tournament once again, the Jumbos are fortunate to have gotten this experience to build from -- especially from a NESCAC game that does not count toward the team's conference record.

"I think we're pretty lucky [because] it's great that we played them out of conference, and we're playing Conn. next week at an out-of-conference game; so we're pretty lucky that we get to see it without it actually counting as a NESCAC season game," Roberson said. "And it does show you [that] every NESCAC game is always really close [as it is every year]. I think teams get really excited -- I know we do -- to play other NESCAC teams, so you're really seeing everyone's best game once it gets into our conference games. I think it's a little bit of a kick in the butt for us, too. I think it just will motivate us more to know that we have a lot of things to work on offensively and defensively. I think, in the long run, it stinks to lose, but it can only be good for us."

Tufts will next take on Bridgewater St. tomorrow night at Cousens Gym before traveling to Wheaton and Conn. College to play its last games before a short winter break.