The Tufts women's basketball team survived a poor first half to beat the Brandeis Judges 53-47 last night at home in Cousens Gym. Trailing by seven at the half, the Jumbos rallied late in the second period to hand the Judges their seventh straight loss.
Tufts remains undefeated at home (4-0) and improves its overall record to 8-2. Brandeis drops to 3-9 as the Judges head out to the midwest to play Washington University and the University of Chicago this weekend.
Tufts controlled the game early on, leading 13-6 with 11 minutes to go in the first half. The Jumbos then committed six consecutive turnovers, on the way to a first half total of 11, allowing the Judges back into the game. Two free throws by Brandeis junior Jen Curran gave the Judges the lead for the first time with just over six minutes remaining. The Judges outscored the Jumbos 14-8 during the rest of the half.
"We played terrible in the first half," coach Janice Savitz said. "The shooting was woeful."
The Jumbos shot a stone-cold 22 percent from the floor before halftime, and sophomore center Emily Goodman, Tufts leading scorer, was held to only four points in the first half.
"Emily can beat anybody one-on-one," sophomore guard Hillary Dunn said, "but we weren't giving her the opportunities." Brandeis, however, made almost as many mistakes as the Jumbos did in the first half, shooting 33 percent from the floor and committing ten turnovers, allowing Tufts to remain within striking distance.
"We were forcing things, trying to throw over them instead of bounce passing. We were just beating ourselves," Tufts captain, senior Shira Fishman said. "That's why we weren't too discouraged at halftime, because we knew we wouldn't do that in the second half. We had to get our heads back in it and work together."
Tufts made some defensive alterations for the second half, switching to a zone defense and intermittently employing a full-court press. The Jumbos came out of the locker room and quickly cut the Brandeis lead to four when Tufts forward Erin Harrington hit the first of her three three-pointers 1:30 into the second half.
After Tufts closed the gap to two, Curran scored five straight points to give Brandeis its seven point advantage back with 11:55 remaining.
It was then when Goodman broke out of her scoring slump, converting a nice pass from Dunn and following with a short jumper to slice the Brandeis lead to 38-35. Freshman guard Maritsa Christoudias hit two three-pointers over the next 37 seconds to put the Jumbos within one point, at 42-41.
It took another putback by Goodman, another Harrington three pointer, and finally, two points from guard Fishman to nudge the Jumbos past the Judges for good. Tufts would hold off Brandeis for the remaining 3:20 with a long two-pointer from Dunn, a converted technical by Harrinton, and two free throws from Shira Fishman.
"We were down seven at the half and won by six, which shows that we have a lot of character," Savitz said. "I was proud of the effort in the second half. We hit some big threes and we had some defensive stops that allowed us to tie the score."
During the interminable final 30 seconds of the game, play was stopped five times for free throws. With 24 seconds to go, a foul was called that sent Brandeis coach Carol Simon to the table screaming. Simon pounded both the table and the basketball, earning a technical for her efforts. Harrington hit one of the two free throws awarded, effectively putting the game out of reach at 51-46.
While the referee declined to comment on the incident, Tufts assistant coach Mike Murray pegged the foul "a good call".
The problems that led to the first half slump were noticeably absent from the Jumbos second half play. In the second frame, the Jumbos committed only five turnovers, and shot 40 percent from the field.
Tufts is in the midst of five consecutive home games and will take on MIT on Thursday night before beginning their NESCAC schedule against the Bates Bobcats on Saturday.
