The women's basketball nearly reenacted the story of David and Goliath on Saturday afternoon in a NESCAC matchup with the Bowdoin Polar Bears. Going into the game against a Goliath of Div. III basketball, it appeared Tufts would have little chance at a victory against the Polar Bears, who entered the contest with a 15-1 record (4-1 NESCAC) and were ranked second in the nation by d3hoops.com. But instead of psyching themselves out, the Jumbos nearly pulled off the biggest NESCAC upset of the season, were it not for a non-call on junior co-captain Hillary Dunn's driving lay-up attempt with 17 seconds left to play.
"The play was designed to let me drive and try and draw the foul," Dunn said. "So we executed it well but just didn't get the call. [The refs] were calling it pretty tight at the end so we thought we would get that call."
Senior Katie Kehrberger, playing her last game in Cousen's Gym, was also upset with the referees' failure to call the foul on Dunn's drive. "Again, it was frustrating, but you can't complain," she said. "You just have to keep playing."
With the score tied at 48, Dunn broke her opponent off the dribble and got to the basket. On her way up for the shot, she was hit in the head, but no whistle was blown. Following the drive, Bowdoin grabbed the rebound and Kehrberger picked up a foul, sending Bowdoin sophomore guard Lora Trenkle to the line. Trenkle calmly sank both free throws, putting her team ahead 50-48. Tufts would have one more shot, and once again Dunn drove the length of the floor to the basket. This time, instead of shooting, she kicked it off to senior co-captain Jayme Busnengo, who missed a ten footer as time expired.
Had the Jumbos called a timeout prior to Dunn's initial drive to the basket, the team may have been able to design a play whereby they held the ball for a final shot. But the team decided to go for the kill rather than play it safe - and but for the controversial non-call, it might have worked.
While Bowdoin escaped with a victory, Tufts' ability to stay with the Polar Bears and actually hold the lead for much of the game was an accomplishment in its own right. Bowdoin had lost only one game on the season, a 56-54 thriller on Friday against Bates the night before. The fact that Bates and Bowdoin were so evenly matched did not appear to bode well for Tufts, as Bates had previously whipped the Jumbos by 40 points in a 97-57 victory on Jan. 19.
Outside of the loss to Bates, Bowdoin had played only one close game the entire season, a 56-55 victory over Wellesley on Nov. 18, in the Polar Bears' second game. Disregarding those two contests, the closest an opponent had come to defeating Bowdoin was on Nov. 27, when the Polar Bears defeated Southern Maine by a mere nine points. In each of its other 13 games, Bowdoin had won by at least 13 points.
"We knew it would be a rough battle," sophomore Maritsa Christoudias said. "But I think once the game actually started our defense took them out of their game a little bit. Plus we had the home court advantage. I think it was just that we had nothing to lose, and the pressure was all on them." Following the Polar Bears' loss on Friday night, the Jumbos expected Bowdoin to come out energetic and looking for redemption. But this was not the case, as Tufts managed to hold Bowdoin to only 24 points in the first half. The Polar Bears were unimpressive from the field, connecting on only 29.2 percent of their shots on the day, including a horrendous 1-18 from three-point range.
"They came off a tough loss the night before," Dunn said. "We were expecting them to come out fired up and hungry for a win. They didn't come out with much intensity. Maybe they were taking us for granted."
With about 12 minutes remaining in the second half, it appeared Tufts had evolved into the "Little Engine That Could" and was about to will its way to victory. But after sophomore Erin Buckley made a lay-up at 10:17, pushing the lead back up to 12 (44-32), the Jumbos suddenly went cold. The frigid shooting lasted for the remaining ten minutes of the game, as Tufts failed to make a field goal during that period.
"It was frustrating that we weren't able to score," Kehrberger said. "They picked it up defensively as well, and it was hard for us to get a good look at the basket."
For much of the scoring drought, Goodman, soon to be Tufts career scoring leader, and Busnengo, another solid offensive threat, were sitting on the bench.
Despite the second half struggles which enabled Bowdoin to get back into the game and eventually win it, the game did provide a forum for the Jumbos to show their character. They managed to play with one of the top teams in the nation after having suffered a heartbreaking 63-60 loss to Colby on Friday night.
During that game, Tufts went head to head with Colby for the entire game and were down only one, 62-61, with 49 seconds to play following a Kehrberger pass to Busnengo for a lay-up. The Jumbos had two chances to either tie the game or take the lead in the final 33 seconds, including Kehrberger's three-point attempt as time expired.
"It's tough," Dunn said afterwards. "We really felt we could have beat either team and to come out with two losses is disheartening, but we can't dwell on that. We need to move on and focus on this weekend."
Coach Janice Savitz declined to talk to the Daily following the loss to Colby.
