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The Tufts Daily
Where you read it first | Thursday, March 28, 2024

Tufts avenges early-season loss to Conn. College, extends win streak

2016-01-26-WBB-vs-Emmanuel-11853
Tufts guard Lauren Dillon, A18, keeps possession of the ball from Emmanuel defenders on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016.

The Tufts women's basketball team updated its record over the weekend, moving to 16-2 (6-0 in the NESCAC standings, tied for first) with just a little over two weeks remaining in the regular season. Tufts suffered setbacks against Bowdoin and Conn. College in early December, the earliest losses they've picked up since the 2011-12 season. This past weekend, however, the team avenged one of those losses and extended its win streak to 11 games undefeated since Dec. 29.

In its last home NESCAC doubleheader of the regular season, No. 9 Tufts emerged with two victories, downing Conn. College on Saturday and Wesleyan on Friday night.

When Tufts and Conn. College first met this year in New London, Conn., the Camels took hold of the game and never looked back, turning a 14-0 run in the middle of the game into a deficit the Jumbos could not overcome. At Cousens Gym over the weekend, Conn. College looked poised for a similar outburst when it took a 25-14 lead midway through the second quarter.

"We knew going in that it would be a tough game and we had kind of marked it on our calendars, especially after we lost to them back in December," senior tri-captain Emma Roberson said. "But Conn. is always tough and we always struggle with them and have had close games with them over the past couple of years."

Tufts, however, pulled within six by halftime after a 5-0 run to close the second quarter. Junior Katy Hicks hit one of two free throws, Roberson knocked down a jump shot and senior Michelle Wu hit a turn-around jumper at the buzzer.

The Jumbos were able to fight through some foul trouble as well, as sophomore Melissa Baptista and junior Michela North were both sidelined for stretches during the first half with three fouls apiece. In general, Tufts and Conn. College faced adversity not only from each other but in the form of stringent foul calling from the referees. Both teams ended the game with over 20 fouls committed. Regardless of the external factors, though, the Jumbos had to stay focused on playing their game.

"You have to stay even-keeled, no matter if the chips are up or the chips are down and fouls are being called and it's a tight game," coach Carla Berube said. "Whoever's on the court, whether Michela is in foul trouble or she's on the bench, someone else is gonna step up, and luckily we didn't dig ourselves too big of a hole. I thought the couple of buckets we hit at the end of the first half were huge, so we had a little momentum going into the second half and also chipped away at that lead they had."

"We might not have agreed with all of [the referees'] calls but they were kind of calling it both ways, so I think just adjusting to the calls that they were making," Roberson said in regard to dealing with tight foul calls. "At halftime we kind of talked about it too. They were calling it very close, so in the post and on the wings just being sure to slide your feet and get there and make it clear you weren't fouling, because they were calling a really tight game both ways."

The game got even tighter in the third quarter as the Camels maintained some distance with a lead of as many as seven points with around four minutes to play in the period. Conn. College first-year Payton Ouimette scored nine points in the quarter as part of her game-high 15. Tufts' execution on offense at the end of the third quarter, however, kept it within striking distance. North took over down low and scored seven points in the paint and at the free throw line. Hicks drilled a 3-pointer right at the end of the period to knot the score at 39 with one period left in regulation.

"I just knew, at some point, our shots are gonna fall," Berube said. "You know, Michela was posting up so strong in [the paint] and we were getting her the ball and she was making plays. Yeah, we just hit some big shots. I thought Katy Hicks hit a huge shot and [sophomore] Lauren [Dillon] hit a big one. So it's just making plays, chipping away."

While the Jumbos' execution on offense came through in the end, their defense stole the show in the fourth quarter. Down 47-41 with just over five minutes to play, Tufts turned to a full-court press which stifled the Conn. College offense for the remainder of the game. The Jumbos outscored the Camels 15-0 and forced 10 turnovers in a five-minute stretch, making steals, taking charges and pressuring Conn. College into tough spots to disrupt their offensive sets. Tufts' goal is always to hold a team under its season average for points per game, and it succeeded here, keeping a Conn. College team that normally scores almost 75 points to just 47.

While Tufts may have been out-rebounded and out-shot in terms of shooting percentage, the telling statistic was turnovers. The Jumbos forced the Camels into 28 turnovers and also scored 22 points off of those takeaways.

"This week was really spent focusing on our defense, as always," Roberson said. "The first time we played them our defense just wasn't there. We didn't really get stops when we needed to, so this week we focused on knowing the personnel of the teams and knowing the scout and what the players' tendencies are and how to stop them."

Dillon and Baptista stepped up big for Tufts on both sides of the ball in the last five minutes. Baptista guarded the inbounds passes in the press and forced multiple turnovers. She also scored five in a row to put Tufts up 48-47 with just over three minutes to play. Dillon took over from there, scoring eight in a row including a big shot from beyond the arc to lift Tufts to a win.

Dillon and North both finished with 13 points, while Baptista added nine, one shy of a double-double along with her 10 rebounds. Baptista and Roberson had four steals apiece, and Dillon added 10 assists. Ouimette finished with 12 rebounds for Conn. College, and sophomore Mairead Hynes pitched in 10 points and eight rebounds for the Camels.

Against Wesleyan the night before, Tufts took care of business in a much easier manner. Though the Cardinals started the game with high energy and tight pressure on defense, it was only a matter of time before the Jumbos broke loose and put the contest out of reach.

Despite leading by just three at the end of the first quarter, the Jumbos took control in the second, outscoring the Cardinals 14-4 in the quarter. North had 15 of her game-high 17 points in the first half, and Baptista pulled down five boards in the opening quarters. In the third quarter, Tufts took off on a 10-0 run, boosted by a 3-pointer from Dillon and an and-one basket from Roberson, to push the lead beyond 20. Wesleyan could not recover, however, only cutting Tufts' lead to 17 at the fewest.

The most positive note of the game was how effective Tufts could be all the way down the bench. All but two players contributed on the scoring end and all three of Tufts' first-years converted baskets. Senior tri-captain Nicole Brooks, who started both games for Tufts, had five points and three steals while classmate Maura Folliard posted three blocks and five points. First-year Jacqueline Knapp led the Tufts reserves in scoring with six points, all of which she scored in the fourth quarter.

"We had a lot of players get a lot of minutes, and I think being able to go nine, ten, eleven, twelve people deep into our bench -- we can really wear teams out, we can really run on them, which will be important for us going forward," Roberson said.

Tufts proved the depth of its roster and displayed how effective its defense can be at taking over games this weekend. After a 57-41 win last night in a non-conference matchup against Emmanuel College, the Jumbos will look to continue their consistent performance in a game at Bates College on Saturday.