Jumbos lose to Bates, fall to 2-1 in NESCAC

The women's basketball team fell to league rival Bates 70-58 on Saturday, reliving last year's 80-59 loss to the Bobcats in the NESCAC tournament. The squad had just come off of a solid 64-47 victory over Keene State on Thursday.

The Jumbos now sit at 9-4, and 2-1 in NESCAC play.

Bates junior forward Betsy Hochadel scored 18 points to lead all scorers, and helped to hand Tufts its first conference loss of the season. Twelve of her points came in the first half when Bates built a five point lead. The 18 point effort tied the career-high Hochadel set last year against Tufts in the NESCAC quarterfinals.

"[Hochadel] was really crashing the boards and getting up and down the court," sophomore Jessica Powers said. "A lot of her points were because of her hustle."

At the end of the first half, the Jumbos went into the locker room down by five, but confident in their ability to come back in the second frame.

"Everyone went into the locker room with their heads up knowing that the game was basically tied," Powers said. "[Coach Carla Berube] stressed boxing out and getting rebounds."

Tufts pulled within two points twice in the second half, once when Powers hit a three pointer on the opening possession, and later when Love's lay up made the score 40-38. The Jumbos would get no closer than six points for the rest of the game.

"We put out our best effort," Powers said. "Everyone played hard, but unfortunately we went down early and never came up with the lead."

Love's double-double of 20 points and 14 rebounds led the Jumbos, who shot just 33 percent from the field and were three of 17 from three point range. Powers added 16 points and sophomore Julia Verplank contributed ten rebounds in the effort.

Tufts once again controlled the boards, finishing with a 47-38 rebounding advantage, but poor shooting prevented the Jumbos from capitalizing on the margin.

Inconsistent intensity also hurt the Jumbos on Saturday, especially on the defensive end of the court. Tufts came up with just nine steals and forced only 12 turnovers. On average this season, the Jumbos have 13.2 steals and force 22 turnovers per game. They also regularly hold their opponents to just under 60 points a contest as compared to the 70 points they surrendered to Bates.

"We need to put everything together for the whole 40 minutes, not in spurts," Powers said. "Our defense needs to be intense for the entire game."

Bates moved to 10-6 on the season and evened itself with Tufts in third place in the NESCAC.

On Thursday against Keene State, Tufts was lead by freshman guard Jenny Muller, who came off the bench to score a game-high 18 points in 18 minutes. Muller was seven of eight from the floor, including four of five from three point range.

"Jenny Muller was on fire tonight," Berube said following the game. "I'm expecting the freshmen to start playing better. They've gotten their first taste of the NESCAC and they can't play like freshmen anymore."

Tufts used its size advantage to dominate the game on the inside, particularly in the first half, when it built a 40-21 lead. Love and senior tri-captain Erin Buckley controlled the paint, combining for 20 points and 14 rebounds.

"We played well, but we still needed to work on a few things," Powers said. "We showed that we could bounce back [after Brandeis.]"

The advantage on the inside helped offset some sloppy ball handling by Tufts. The Jumbos committed 17 turnovers and had problems early in the game handling the Keene State press. Once Tufts got its ball handling under control, the team quickly pushed the game out of reach.

"We really wanted to bounce back from the loss to Brandeis," Berube said. "I keep telling all the girls that everyone's getting up for us and there aren't going to be any easy games."

The Jumbos will travel to Smith College on Tuesday, followed by an important NESCAC weekend at home against Amherst on Friday and Trinity on Saturday.