Basketball, track, swimming all in action over winter break

While many Tufts students will be traveling or relaxing over winter break, the women's basketball, track and swim teams will all be in action.

Women's basketball

After a short break, Tufts will travel to New York City to play Baruch College on Dec. 29. The Jumbos, who are 4-1 so far this season, will be looking to win as many games as possible over winter break in order to once again qualify for the NCAA tournament. The team will take advantage of its time off from academics, playing a total of eight games over winter break, including a rematch with NESCAC rival Bowdoin in Brunswick, Maine, on Jan. 8. (Tufts lost to the team in a Dec. 5 matchup.) Tufts will also play tough games against teams like Plattsburgh State and Springfield College in the Naismith Classic in Springfield, Mass. on Jan. 2 and 3, and will also begin a stretch of seven conference games beginning at Bowdoin and ending with Conn. College on Jan. 23.

"We definitely hope to pull out a win at Bowdoin," junior center Michela North said. "This will be the more important game against them because it counts for the NESCAC, whereas this past one [on Dec. 5] did not. We also want to prove ourselves and show that we are capable of beating them if we just bring the energy and play our game. We let them get too many open looks [in the last game], and they were hitting all their shots, especially 3s. It's important that we break their press, take care of the ball and execute our plays in order to win. They wanted it more than us because the past two years we've played them, we've won all four games. So they were out to get us. We need to show that we want it and [to] prove that with a solid win at their home gym."

Women's track and field

Tufts will kick off its 2016 campaign on Jan. 10 at Dartmouth College for the Dartmouth Relays. The Jumbos, who were second at NESCACs last spring, hope to begin their season on a good note with some individual and relay victories. The squad brings in a first-year class that shows talent on every front, from distance to throws. These first-years will join talented sophomore, junior and senior classes that include senior captains Marilyn Allen, Audrey Gould, Alexis Harrison and Sydney Smith.

"Mostly mid-distance or distance runners will be running at Dartmouth this year," junior Sam Cox said. "We'll all be using it kind of as a shakeout. It's our first race back, and the only objective will be to get back into the swing of racing. For everyone else, the first meet is the Tufts Invite on Jan. 16, and that meet will be a shakeout for most people as well."

Women's swimming and diving 

Tufts will also be in action over break, as it will take its annual winter break training trip to Puerto Rico. Upon return, it has a tri-meet against MIT and Wellesley at MIT.

"The plan for the team over winter break is to go home and get a few weeks of training in on our own before heading down to Puerto Rico," junior Cassidy Hubert said. "The goal of the training trip is to get [in] two weeks of hard training...as we begin to prepare for the championship season."