The beginning of February marks the beginning of the end of the women's basketball season. With just seven of its 23 games remaining, the Jumbos enter this month in search of momentum for the NESCAC playoffs.
February play begins for Tufts tonight in Newport, Rhode Island against the Salve Regina Seahawks. With two critical league wins last weekend over Amherst and Trinity at home and a three game unbeaten streak, the Jumbos have their heads held high as they hit the road.
"We are pretty motivated," coach Carla Berube said. "But we have a tough week ahead starting with a very good Salve Regina team [tonight.]"
The Jumbos have not squared off against this Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) squad in any of the past four seasons, but could face a challenge in the form of the 15-2 Seahawks.
"They play very hard," Berube said. "They have nice young players, but it's about us, not our opponent."
The Seahawks have a seven game win streak intact and, like the Jumbos, are undefeated on their home court. They came out victorious, 73-59, over the same Trinity Bantam team the Jumbos walloped on Saturday, 93-76, but fell to CCC rival Gordon -- a team Tufts trounced 91-58 before winter break.
The Seahawks are small in number, with just nine players, and bring a youthful flavor to the court. The squad features five sophomores, two freshmen, and two juniors. Tufts will be the more experienced of the two teams with three seniors and two juniors on its 13 player roster tonight.
However, youth does not equate to lesser play for the Seahawks. Sophomore forward Lindsay Frederick is second on the team in scoring at 10.6 points per game and also clamps down on 9.9 rebounds per game, tops on the team.
"[Frederick] is a strong player and goes to the basket well," Berube said. "But she is just another player [to us.] If you focus on one player, someone else will hurt you."
Other Salve Regina players who may pose to be problems for the Jumbos are sophomore guard Meaghan Stapleton, who leads the team in scoring at 11.6 ppg, sophomore Kelly Mallon (10.2 ppg), and freshman Megan Barry, who contributes solid averages of 9.4 ppg and 8.9 rpg..
Despite their victories last weekend, Berube believes her team still has some problems it needs to work out on its own end of the court if it is to be successful tonight.
"Our defense wasn't where it needed to be on Saturday," Berube said. "Our transition defense was not so good."
Tufts will face another two NESCAC opponents at home this weekend in a Friday/Saturday double header on February 6th and 7th. This time, the visiting rivals will be the nationally number one ranked Bowdoin Polar Bears and the Colby White Mules.
Last year, the Jumbos fell to both Bowdoin and Colby, 63-46 and 73-50, respectively. These games, however, were away from Cousens Gym. Tufts holds a perfect record on its home court this season and has gone 17-2 in Medford since head coach Carla Berube took over last season.
The Polar Bears are in the midst of an undefeated season boasting a 19-0 overall record and a perfect 6-0 league mark along with their national number one rating. Second-place Tufts will have its hands full with this fearsome team, but will treat the match-up just like any other game.
"We will prepare [for Bowdoin] the way we do for any other team," Berube said. "Bowdoin just happens to be the number one team in the country."
Colby, on the other hand, has not had as much success as Tufts' Friday opponent. The White Mule's sit in seventh place in the NESCAC with a 2-4 league record and a 9-11 overall mark.
Tufts will square off in its third straight home game next Tuesday against Wheaton and then finish off the 2003-2004 campaign against NESCAC rivals Middlebury and Williams and non-league MIT on the road.
The future for this team has yet to be determined, but will gradually unfold as the month progresses. With NESCAC playoffs looming just around the corner, Tufts looks to use these last seven games as a stepping stone to a high tournament seed.
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