On a roll

The women's basketball team continued its strong start to the season last night, beating Gordon College 91-58 at home. The Jumbos were lead by junior forward Allison Love's 24 points, and also got 16 points and 15 rebounds from senior center Erin Buckley. The win brought Tufts record to 3-1 on the season, while Gordon lost for the first time this year.

For the second straight game, Tufts got up to a big lead early with a 13-3 run in the first four minutes. From the beginning Tufts' full court press rattled the Fighting Scots, and the Jumbos crashed the offensive boards for several put backs.

Gordon was bothered by the defensive pressure all night, committing 26 turnovers and shooting just 37.7 percent from the field. The Jumbos were especially tough in the first half, giving up only six field goals.

"For the most part, our defensive intensity was good tonight," coach Carla Berube said. "We tend to do it in spurts, and we need to sustain it for the full 40 minutes. We weren't intense the whole game, but overall this was our best showing this year."

Berube was forced to go to her bench early in the game, as sophomore guards Julia Verplank and Jessica Powers each picked up two fouls in the first half. Verplank had scored eight early points to jumpstart the team's offense, but Tufts didn't suffer at all when she was replaced with 13:30 to go in the first half.

"I feel very comfortable going to the bench," Berube said. "When the subs came in, we didn't miss a beat. [Freshman] Jenny Muller came in and hit some shots, and all the freshmen played well."

Tufts took a 47-21 lead into the locker room at the half, and unlike Tuesday's game against Babson, Gordon was never able to cut the lead. With 17 minutes to go in the game, the Jumbos stretched their advantage to 30 points at 55-25 and coasted the rest of the way.

Love scored 16 points in the first half, as well as six rebounds and a game-high four steals in just 22 minutes of playing time.

"Our offense gets me lots of good open looks, and I was able to take advantage of it," Love said. "My teammates really did a great job getting me the ball when I was open. I just do what I can to help the team."

Buckley dominated the paint all night long, pulling down 11 boards in the first half and blocking a handful of shots in the second half.

"Those two played really well," Berube said about Love and Buckley. "Both offensively and defensively, they controlled the game. We're a guard-dominated team in the way we pressure the ball, but we also have some great post players."

Muller scored 13 points, including three three-pointers, and Verplank added ten for Tufts. Freshman Sarah Frink came off the bench to lead Gordon with 16 points and Sarah DeLuca scored 13.

Berube was happy with the win, but saw several areas where the Jumbos need to improve.

"Our boxing out and defensive rebounding can always be better," Berube said. "We need to keep up the defensive intensity for the whole game. And offensively sometimes we force shots and passes. If we move the ball and execute we'll get easy scoring opportunities."