Tufts prepares for Sweet Sixteen showdown with Scranton

No. 4 Tufts has made an approximately 1200-mile trip to St. Louis, Mo. to face Scranton in NCAA Sweet Sixteen action tonight. Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) is one of four schools that will host the next two rounds of the tournament, the other three being Amherst, Ohio Northern and St. Thomas.

The Scranton Royals finished second in their Landmark Conference in February with an 11-3 record and come into the match-up ranked 13th nationally by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). The Royals also took down the then-No. 23 and top-seeded Catholic University Cardinals in the conference final 58-42 to seal their second straight championship. Scranton then sealed the 1000th and 1001st victories of its program this past weekend as the team beat the University of New England 49-48 and SUNY Poly 76-65 in the first two rounds of tournament play.

The Royals have one of the most clinical shooters in Div. III in senior forward Alexix Roman, who has averaged 17.0 points per game. Roman is also third in the Landmark Conference in terms of overall points (493) and leads in field goal percentage (61.4 percent). Tufts will also have to be wary of Scranton’s strength on the backboards, as they are second in the Landmark Conference with 41.6 rebounds per game.

“I think that come Friday we’d have to put together a full 40 minutes of basketball, and definitely our defense will be key,” sophomore guard Jacqueline Knapp said. “I think we also have to keep doing what’s been working for us in terms of transitioning, making shots and playing with a lot of energy the entire game.”

But the Jumbos, who are hunting for their fourth consecutive Final Four berth and third consecutive national championship appearance, still come in as the favorites. The last time the Jumbos met the Royals, which was in last year's Elite Eight, Tufts maintained a solid lead for 40 minutes in a 57-48 win. Coming in to last year’s game, Scranton was 30-0, with Tufts facing a hostile home crowd.

The key to last year’s game was Tufts going 21-of-44 from the field (47.7 percent) as compared to Scranton’s 17-of-54 (31.5 percent). The Jumbos will once again look to senior tri-captain Michela North to match her numbers from last year -- she picked up 10 defensive rebounds, about a third of the team’s total. Nevertheless, the 17 second-chance points that the Jumbos surrendered, compared to the five that they earned, do present an area for improvement.

The biggest challenge for the Jumbos will thus be to defend the post.

“They have their two big post players back, [senior forward Sarah] Payonk and Roman, I think they work really well together and they’ve been playing together for four years now, so they know how each other plays,” North said. “Payonk leads the team assists as a four-player, which is really rare, but it’s because Payonk and Roman work the high-low so much. And they have it down to a T, so defending their post players will be the hardest part.”

In the other Sweet Sixteen match-up to be played at the Francis Fieldhouse in St. Louis, No. 6 hosts WashU (25-2) will face off against the No. 16 University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (26-3). The hosts are led by sophomore forward Madeline Homoly’s 14.6 points per game and senior forward Zoe Vernon’s 62 assists this season. The Bears finished the regular season 23-2 and are currently on a 13-game winning streak. The team defeated St. Norbert 73-54 and No. 24 Wheaton 83-74 to earn the right to host this weekend.

For the UW-Oshkosh Titans, junior forward Eliza Campbell leads the team with 10.9 points per game closely followed by senior guard Taylor Schmidt’s 10.8. UW-Oshkosh lost its Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match-up against UW-Whitewater 65-56 but nevertheless picked up an at-large bid to the tournament. The Titans took down Calvin College (Mich.) 63-55 and DePauw University (Ind.) 64-49 to book their flight to St. Louis.

When it comes to the Jumbos and their game against the Titans, North believes that this game will come down to focus and discipline on defense by the entire Jumbo lineup.

“When they have some really good post players, it’s harder to stay out of foul trouble, but I think everyone needs to be smart about fouling, including the forwards and guards,” North said. “We can’t make stupid fouls when people drive to the basket or when they shoot. I think just staying down, being solid playing with our hands off and knowing that our whole defense is there is the biggest key for us, because everyone who’s out there is out there for a reason and that’s to defend our basket.”