Jumbos Clinch Home-Court for NESCAC Playoffs

Women's basketball coach Carla Berube said last week that "great teams have to win on the road."

If this weekend was any indication, Tufts might be ready to make the jump from good to great, after a pair of important wins on the road against NESCAC opponents. The Jumbos won 77-62 over Middlebury and 59-37 over Williams, clinching a home playoff game for the Jumbos for the first time in women's basketball history, and gaving the Jumbos eight wins in their last nine games.

"We're very confident right now," sophomore guard Jessica Powers said. "We've won games all season but haven't always played our best, but this weekend we really played up to our potential. It's a good time to be playing well for us, especially because we're heading into the playoffs next weekend."

On Saturday Tufts registered one of its more impressive wins of the year against the Williams Ephs, using suffocating defense to take Williams out of the game. The 37 points scored by the Ephs is the fewest that Tufts has given up to any team this year.

Both teams struggled offensively in the first half, with Tufts building a slim 23-18 margin at the break. But the Jumbos came out fired up in the second half, scoring 17 of the first 19 points to put the game out of reach.

"We put our whole defensive game together for the entire contest," Powers said. "Sometimes we have lapses where we don't play well as we should, but on Saturday we played good defense for the entire 40 minutes, which also sparked our offense."

Tufts' defensive effort allowed the team to dominate, even though it didn't play a great offensive game. The Jumbos shot 37 percent from the floor for the game and their 59 points was well below the team's normal output of 71 points per game.

Williams was unable to take advantage of Tufts' struggles, as the Ephs were shut down offensively the entire game. The Ephs shot under 24 percent for the game and finished just 1 of 14 from behind the arc. Williams' Maggie Miller scored a game-high 19 points, but shot just 8 of 24 from the floor, and the rest of the Ephs managed just seven field goals combined.

"They are normally a great shooting team but we had some great pressure on their shooters and they had an off night," Christoudias said. "We made them take tough shots, so we didn't have to score that much because our defense was so great."

Tufts was led by Powers, who continued her strong play with 16 points, four assists, and four threes. Classmate Julia Verplank added 12 points, including a notable 8 of 8 from the free throw line, and senior tri-captain Maritsa Christoudias chipped in with 11.

On Friday night, junior Allison Love led Tufts to victory at Middlebury. Love broke out of a mini-slump with 19 points and 10 rebounds. The Jumbos shot 62 percent in the second half to come away with the win.

"It was a good game for [Love], she made a lot of big shots and dominated not only outside but inside as well," Powers said.

Junior forward Erin Connolly came off the bench and played her best game of the season, lighting the Panthers up for 14 points in 16 minutes on 6-8 shooting from the field, including 2-2 from long distance.

"Erin really stepped up in an awesome fashion against Middlebury, it was amazing to be on the court with her when she did that," Christoudias said. "We all knew she had it in her, and she really gave us a lift."

The score was close for most of the game, as Tufts led by five at halftime. Middlebury took the lead for the first and only time in the game with just under 11 minutes to go in the game. But Tufts scored on its next possession to regain the lead and used a late run to get a comfortable 15 point win.

Verplank had 17 points, eight rebounds, and five assists for Tufts, while Christoudias had 10 and junior Erin Connolly added 14 off the bench. Middlebury was led by Alexis Hollinger's 18 points and 9 rebounds.

"Friday night really proved that when we need to step up, we step up," Christoudias said. "This whole team has always known how deep we are and we really showed it [against Middlebury]."

Tufts is now 17-5, with one remaining non-conference game against MIT before the NESCAC tournament next weekend. The Jumbos will host the Ephs on Saturday night, with Tufts looking to advance to the semifinals and Williams looking to get revenge on the Jumbos.

"They're definitely going to be out to get us because we beat them at home on their senior weekend," Powers said. "We can't go in their knowing we've already beaten them, we need to go in knowing we're going to have a tough game because team's really step up in the playoffs. We're certainly confident but not overconfident."