Women's basketball wins non-conference match

With a crucial weekend of NESCAC matchups looming in the near future, the women's basketball team began its week of preparation on the right foot routing Lasell College 80-37 last night. Tufts hustled its way to the big win, overcoming a difficult shooting night. The non-conference triumph ups the Jumbos record to 15-3 on the season.

Tuesday's game was a track meet from the very beginning; missed shots and Lasell turnovers allowed the Jumbos to jump ahead 14-2 just six minutes in.

"We came out much better than we have the past few games," coach Carla Berube said. "We set the tone that we are going to defend and run to try and get layups."

In addition to playing quick, turn-around defense, Tufts also was very aggressive after the ball in the opening minutes of the contest. They were almost too intense as the team was charged with four fouls after seven and a half minutes had been played.

Lasell helped the Jumbos' cause early on with sloppy passes, many of which were aimed at no one in particular and ended up out of bounds. Tufts frequently jumped in the way of these renegade passes, accumulating seven steals in the first half alone.

At times throughout the first frame, the Jumbos seemed in complete control of the game making crisp pass combinations and shooting well from outside. But, the squad mishandled the rock for five turnovers and had trouble making many easy shots.

"We were not communicating as well during the first half," Berube said. "We weren't as intense. Sometimes we tended to turn it on and off with the intensity. We can't do that this weekend."

As the half wore on and the Jumbo lead increased, outside and downtown shooting became more important as easy layups were not going down. Freshman Jessica Powers had three first half field goals and senior captain Hillary Dunn contributed with two threes of her own.

At the end of the half, Tufts was shooting just 37.8 percent from the field, but still had twice as many points as the Lasers with a score of 36-18.

The beginning of the second half saw Tufts come out with the same type of energy that it had in the first 20 minutes of play. Lasell was caught on its heels and promptly began hacking at the Jumbo players. In the opening minute alone, Tufts drained four foul shots resulting from the Lasers' violent play.

Physical play continued for the duration of the game as both teams spent a considerable amount of time scrambling for loose balls.

Just as in the first half, deep shots played a considerable role in the Jumbo point total. Sophomore Erin Connolly had two threes and freshman Julia Verplank contributed one of her own.

"After shooting 17 percent on Friday, we wanted to come out and have a good game tonight," Connolly said.

The frenetic pace established early on never calmed down. Both teams were running coast to coast up until the final buzzer.

"We are a good, conditioned team," Berube said. "We want to sprint up and down on every effort and always work hard."

Hard work paid off for the Jumbos as they finished with a 43-point victory, 80-37, over the lackadaisical Lasers.

"We worked really hard tonight," Powers said. "We have a big weekend coming up where we want to play well and play hard. We don't want to just win, we want to win doing really well."

The Jumbos have two important practices between now and this weekend's games. The team will work on improving its game to ready itself for the stiff competition Bowdoin and Colby will present.

"The next two practices need to be focused. That will prepare us for the next two games," Berube said. "We will do the same kind of things, watch tape, figure out what [Bowdoin and Colby] do, and be ready to defend. I'm big on what we do, it's what we're most concerned about."

Defense, as always, will play a key role if the Jumbos are to be successful against the top two teams in the league. But it is not what has happened thus far in the season that will determine who will prevail this weekend.

"Records don't matter anymore," Verplank said. "Everything is up in the air."

"We are confidant and looking forward to this weekend. After a few good practices, we will be ready," Connolly said.