Jumbos beat Wheaton for 15th win

One of these days, the women's basketball team is going to put together two halves of its best basketball and blow somebody out by 50.

Until that happens, however, the Jumbos will continue to have games like last night's 76-66 win over the Wheaton Lyons. Tufts managed a win in its final home game of the season, despite playing just one solid half of basketball.

Tufts was aggressive right out of the gates, pestering Wheaton defensively and dominating the offensive boards. Senior tri-captain Maritsa Christoudias was especially effective, grabbing six offensive rebounds and scoring on several putbacks in the first half.

With less than nine minutes to go in the first, the Jumbos had pulled out to a 24-13 lead, and they continued to attack. By the end of the frame, Tufts had stretched its lead to 18 points, 38-20, and Wheaton was shooting less than 30 percent from the floor.

Tufts started the second half much the same way it had played the first, scoring five points in the first ten seconds.

They were the only points the Jumbos would score in the first four minutes of the half, however, as the momentum quickly swung Wheaton's way.

Sloppy Tufts ball handling and poor defense allowed the Lyons to chip away at the lead. Behind a paltry 31.4 (11 for 35) Jumbo shooting percentage from the floor in the second half, Wheaton would eventually cut the advantage to single digits at 63-55 with 4:32 to go in regulation.

The team stopped attacking and was slow footed on defense, allowing the Lyons to claw back into the contest.

Tufts coach Carla Berube was unhappy with the way the team let Wheaton back in the game.

"Not to take anything away from Wheaton, but that was all us," Berube said. "That was us getting complacent with a 20 point lead in the first half. We lost our focus, we didn't play defense, we stopped attacking, we didn't run our offense."

The last six minutes of the game were played primarily from the free throw line, as first Wheaton and then Tufts seemed to get fouled on every possession. Tufts shot 13 of 16 from the foul line to secure the victory, despite not scoring a field goal over the same period. Both teams looked tired in the game's waning minutes, which was the likely reason for the excessive number of fouls.

Powers and Christoudias led Tufts with 13 points apiece, with Christoudias adding nine rebounds and five steals. Classmate and fellow tri-captain Kate Gluckman chipped in 12 points off the bench. Senior co-captain Taryn Brassil had 18 points and eight rebounds to lead Wheaton.

Despite a poor second half on Tufts' end, the score didn't reflect the caliber of the two teams. The Jumbos were clearly the more talented unit, but their lackluster play on both sides of the court allowed Wheaton to make it a game in the second half.

The win brought Tufts' record to 15-5 overall and ran the team's final home record to 9-1. Wheaton fell to 6-15. It was a non-NESCAC game, but Berube didn't think that had any bearing on how the team played.

"Every game means a lot to us," Berube said. "We get to put on the uniform, that always means something."

Looking forward to the final two NESCAC games of the season, held this week on Friday at Middlebury and Saturday at Williams, Berube was confident about the team's chances.

"I feel good, I feel strongly that we're going to give it our best effort," Berube said. "I hope we haven't seen the best out of this team, I hope there's more to come. I hope to be peaking right now, as we go into the NESCAC playoffs."