Jumbos record four straight wins to end winter break

The Tufts women's basketball team dropped two games over a winter break that saw them slip to No. 8 in the national rankings, but recovered strongly on both occasions to remain third overall in the NESCAC standings at 15–2. 

Speaking about the winter break schedule, senior forward Melissa Baptista thought it was a good growing experience for the team.

"It felt like a whole different season — the season during the school year, then there’s the season during winter break," Baptista said. "It started off as a low with a loss at Albright, and it was somewhere we didn’t want to be, having a loss early on in the regular season, but it allowed us to realize our holes and gaps and room to grow, pointing out our weaknesses and what we needed to work on."

After taking a few weeks off with the end of the fall semester, then-No. 1 Tufts traveled to Montclair, N.J., for the Gelston/Paskert Holiday Tournament from Dec. 29—30. In its opening game, Tufts fell 62–59 to Albright for its first loss of the season. Tufts started strong, racing out to a 6–0 lead, and eventually finished the first quarter with a 16–9 lead courtesy of balanced scoring from Baptista (four points), sophomore guard/forward Erica DeCandido (four points) and junior guard Jac Knapp (five points).The Jumbos were undone by a 12-point third quarter that knotted the score at 46 apiece.Albright, on the other hand, posted 22 points in the frame, led by senior guard/forward Alysha Lofton's seven points, and senior forward/center Devan Horka's six points. The latter went on to finish with a game-high 17 points.

In a seesaw final quarter, the two sides exchanged leads multiple times.Senior guard Jane Joyce’s two free throws with 2:40 to play gave Albright a 58–57 lead, which grew after junior guard/forward MiKayla Lea’s layup and another Joyce free throw with 0:30 to play. Tufts first-year guard/forward Emily Briggs narrowed the gap to three with twelve seconds left, and Knapp had an opportunity to tie the game at the buzzer but her three-pointer was off the mark, as Albright held on for victory.

"After the tough loss against Albright, our seniors brought us together and were like, ‘Hey, this is gonna happen and we just need to know how to bounce back from this,'" DeCandido said. "The reason we do tournaments is because it helps us get ready for NESCAC games because they’re back-to-back, and you can’t sulk on the one game because you have another game the next day. The only thing you can do is bounce back."

And so they did, as the Jumbos were able to recover in the consolation match against the DeSales Bulldogs, with the Jumbos doubling up their opponents in an 82–41 victory.The starting five contributed 50 points, with Baptista leading the way with game-highs of 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Briggs led the bench with 12 points and eight rebounds. Tufts also dominated the glass with a season-high 54 rebounds.

The team commenced its NESCAC season on Jan. 5 with a road game at Colby.It seemed that the Jumbos were back to winning ways as they defeated the Camels 65–43. After Colby’s junior guard Katie McCrum hit a jump shot to open the scoring, Tufts never trailed in the game. The Jumbos’ defensive strength was on display, as they limited the hosts to just 14 points in the first half.While the second half was a tighter affair, Tufts' lead was comfortable enough for coach Carla Berube to play most of her bench players.

The victory celebration was short-lived, however, as the Jumbos fell 66–53 at Bowdoin the following day.Tufts was unable to stop senior guards Lauren Petit (20 points, seven rebounds) and Kate Kerrigan (13 points, 11 rebounds).The Jumbos seemed to make a slow start to the game, as the Polar Bears were able to rush to a 9–2 lead; the Jumbos' only lead in the game came after the opening basket. Tufts gave up 32 points on free throws and was out-rebounded by Bowdoin 49–36.While Tufts was able to put up 32 points in the paint, the team's three-point shooting was less than ideal, as it shot 1-for-13 from beyond the arc. In contrast, Bowdoin went 4-for-11 on three-pointers.

Yet the Jumbos recovered to finish the winter break on a positive note. In general, Tufts’ ability to start games strong often proved to be key to its victories. A 77–42 win at Worcester State was followed by a tight 47–40 win at home to NESCAC rival Williams. With the Williams game a defensive, low-scoring affair, Tufts demonstrated why it was the top-ranked team in the nation coming into the season by recovering from a dismal five-point second quarter to eke out the victory.Both DeCandido (12 points, 11 rebounds) and Baptista (15 points, 10 rebounds) recorded double-doubles as the Jumbos returned to winning ways.

"I think it was hard this year, especially because we have a lot of Monday games right after the weekend, so we just had to be smart with the way we practiced," DeCandido said. "If you had an injury, you had to be honest with yourself. The recovery after Bowdoin physically and mentally was a little refresher, we had to be honest with ourselves with how we were feeling. We had to get over it, watched a lot of film on it and learned how to get better and what we did well."

A more comfortable 61–45 victory over Middlebury followed to make Tufts 3–1 in NESCAC play.DeCandido continued her strong season with 15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, but it was Briggs who led all scorers with 16 points. In the final game of the winter break, Tufts won 74–66 at UMass-Dartmouth. Briggs and DeCandido were at it again — the former put up 12 points and six rebounds, the latter picked up 24 points and nine rebounds, while Knapp contributed 18 points of her own.Tufts also demonstrated its strength in the transition game, scoring 27 points off turnovers.

Knapp had high praise for the contributions of Briggs in recent weeks.

"Briggs has been doing a really good job — she’s really taking everything coach and what the older players have been telling her and putting it into use," Knapp said. "Her presence in size [definitely helps], and she’s really quick and got really good post moves. While she’s small for a post [player], that plays to her advantage because when she’s up against bigger post players, she’s definitely much quicker than them. She can also really stretch the floor, so it pulls some of the bigger players out and opens up drives for the other players in the court."

A series of conference matches lie ahead for Tufts, as it travels to Bates on Saturday, before returning home on Friday to play Conn. College. Despite a strong start to the season, Baptista knows the team still has much to work on.

"Defense is a thing that we need to get back on," she said. "We’re letting teams score more than the normal 42, 45 points, and we’re getting in a lot of foul trouble. I don’t think we are at all at our peak, and we’re still working on these things and making open shots, being better-spaced against zone defense ... These are weaknesses that we’ve had against Albright, against Bowdoin and in close games, but as the season goes on, we’re getting there ... From Albright to now, I don’t think anyone on the team is satisfied with how we’re playing, but we’re getting better."