Since beating Fitchburg State on Jan. 8 to move to 8-1 on the season, the women's basketball team has lost six straight games. The team's last win was also the same day that junior point guard Julia Verplank went down with a knee injury on a first-half play.
Verplank, who has led the offense from the point since coming to Tufts, was the team leader in rebounds (5.2 per game) and assists (3.0 per game) and also averged 9.4 points per night. Even more important to the Jumbos, however, was her ball-handling and court presence.
"It has taken a while to click," coach Carla Berube said. "When you lose your point guard, your floor general, it's tough."
In Verplank's absence, sophomore Taryn Miller-Stevens has started at point guard, and the team's other guards, senior co-captain Erin Connolly, junior Jessica Powers, and sophomore Valerie Krah, have had stepped into the backcourt to help with ball-handling duties.
"Everyone's role changed after she got hurt," Powers said. "It's a lot of pressure on everybody because point guard is such an important position."
"[Verplank] is a great competitor and a great defender," Berube said. "We've done a good job stepping up without her. Everybody knows they have to do a little more with her not playing."
While both coach Berube and Powers seemed confident that the team can bounce back from Verplank's injury, they said that it has had a psychological impact on the team.
"We've talked about it," Berube said. "Everybody understands that we're going to have to play without her. Good teams bounce back from injuries, and we know that, but underneath it probably has affected us. She meant so much to our team."
Powers, Verplank's backcourt mate for the past three years, took the injury especially hard, but remained optimistic about the rest of the season.
"Julia's one of my best friends, so I was pretty upset by it," Powers said. "And obviously it's hard for her to watch and not be able to play. But the team's still just as close; we just have to make some adjustments. We still have the confidence that we can be a good team."
This mental hit to team chemistry has played out on the court as the Jumbos have lost six straight of its last eight games. The team has struggled to score as the average offensive output has dropped from 71.3 points per game to 54.3 in Verplank's absence. Losing its leading ball-handler has taken its toll on the Jumbos' passing game as the team has averaged nearly four more turnovers per game.
Powers also cited the increased responsibility that falls on her own shoulders without her backcourt partner.
"Playing at the one and the two [positions] for the last three years, we shared that role," Powers said. "And Julia can still be a leader from the bench, but I know that I have to step up even more."
Sitting at 0-4 in the conference, the Jumbos desperately need to right the ship. With Miller-Stevens filling in and Powers stepping up, Tufts has the backcourt depth to overcome the loss of their point guard, even one as good as Verplank. But a turnaround will require the rest of the team to find their roles quickly in order to break out of the current losing streak.
