Women lose opener to RPI, trounce Emerson

The women's basketball team kicked off its season over the weekend in the aptly named MIT Tip-Off Tournament. Tufts fell to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in the first round on Friday evening 61-49, but pummeled Emerson College 67-20 in the consolation match Saturday afternoon. MIT won its own tournament with decisive victories over Emerson (55-40) and RPI (68-56).

Following Friday's disappointing loss, Tufts came out on Saturday in the consolation match against Emerson looking for redemption.

"We worked really hard on Friday night and were frustrated," senior captain Hillary Dunn said "We took that frustration out against Emerson."

Early intensity led the Jumbos to score 36 points in the first half. They also drastically improved their 21.4 percent success on free throwsfrom Friday's game with 13 points from the foul line in the first 20 minutes of the competition.

"Our fast breaks were much more effective and we pushed the ball better up the court," Dunn said.

The defense also played a tremendous game for the Jumbos. It yielded just seven points in the second half and 20 for the entire match. This was the lowest point total allowed by Tufts since the 1980-81 season when the Jumbos hammered Regis 87-17. Saturday's potent defense also forced 35 turnovers and kept Emerson's shooting percentage at 17.9%.

Prior to the consolation round however, Friday's loss to RPI was a disappointing way to open the season for both the team and rookie coach Carla Berube.

"We didn't know exactly what to expect against RPI," Dunn said, "they had a tough defense and we were really out rebounded."

First game jitters were apparent as Tufts shot a meager three out of fourteen (21.4%) from the foul line and only junior Kate Gluckman broke into double figures with ten points.

"We dug ourselves into a hole with turnovers and rebounds. We tried to force things and didn't do a great job taking care of what we needed to do," Dunn said.

In contrast to the Jumbos' scoring struggles, RPI junior Kristin Kaczynski exploded with 29 points in the game shooting 11 out of 18 from the floor. RPI senior Jo Alexander also helped the Red Hawks with 14 rebounds. The win propelled RPI into Saturday's final against host MIT.

This weekend's tournament was a way for the Jumbos to get in gear for the regular season and begin to mesh as a team.

"The games we play in the first semester are mainly to get our chemistry right with the new coach and players so we are ready for our NESCAC match-ups next semester," Dunn said.

Many of the squad's young players proved themselves with solid performances in the tournament. Freshman Jessica Powers scored nine points in her collegiate debut on Friday. Fellow freshman Julia Verplank had a great game all around on Saturday tallying eight points, three rebounds, two assists and four steals in the Tufts victory.

"I was a little nervous going into my first college game," Verplank said. "It's really the next level. We are a fast paced team that is a lot of fun."

Sophomores Allison Love and Krissy Nierenberg also contributed. Love had seven points and five rebounds against RPI and Nierenberg scored eight points and brought down eight rebounds versus Emerson.

"We have a lot of younger talent that people haven't seen yet," Dunn said. "No one in New England expects much out of us so there is not a lot of pressure to perform. We are in a good position and are going to prove a lot of people wrong this season."

The squad will have over a week to prepare for its regular season opener against Babson on Dec. 3. With the obligatory pause for turkey this Thursday, Tufts will be thankful for a new coach, young talent and the opportunity to improve its standing in the NESCAC this year.