The women's basketball team's season opener was a little late and a little messy, but the team got the job done.
After an officiating mix-up left what was supposed to be the team's matchup against Suffolk on Friday evening without any referees, the first round of the Tufts Invitational was moved to Saturday afternoon. In take two of the 2005-2006 season opener, the Jumbos won what was certainly not the prettiest game of basketball played in Cousens Gym, 58-39.
The Tufts defense was the bright spot of the day, forcing 30 turnovers and holding the Rams to just 26.1 percent from the floor. The Jumbos recorded eight blocks and 15 steals, seven courtesy of junior Valerie Krah.
"We really tried to concentrate on our defense," senior tri-captain Jessica Powers said. "We've only had two weeks of practice, so our offense is still coming together, but defense is just hustle, and we did a good job of that on Saturday."
The Jumbos fared little better than the Rams on the offensive end, shooting just 33.3 percent from the floor. Powers was the only Tufts player in double digits, with 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting. With both teams struggling from the floor, the difference was the 23-shot advantage for the Jumbos and the 20 points they earned off Suffolk turnovers.
The transition game has been a key centerpiece of coach Carla Berube's game strategy in years past, and the Jumbos' ability to not only read passes and shoot the lanes defensively, but to convert steals on the other end carried them through a day of shaky offense.
"We're going to push it no matter what," Berube said. "I want us to play basketball. If we can push it every time, we'll push it. I definitely want us to be a fast-break team."
"We want to be able to run past the other team, to get steals and get down to the offensive end right away," Powers added. "Even if it's not off a steal, just after [the other team] scores, we want to get it in quickly and get up the floor."
The speed of the Jumbos' guards and the up-court vision came together for the Jumbos and helped compensate for shaky shooting. The Rams had a full-court press nearly the entire game and the pressure rattled the Jumbos early on, forcing quick shots and eight first-half turnovers as they tried to dribble through the press. But as the Jumbos set up their press break and passed around the Rams, it yielded some easy baskets.
"In the beginning of the game, we definitely struggled [against the press]," senior tri-captain Katherine Miller said. "We couldn't get the ball across halfcourt that quickly, and we were trying to play a halfcourt game. We were throwing the ball away. In the second half, we started looking upcourt and passing well and fast-breaking the way we want to."
"We started breaking their press when we finally started to look up the court over the top," Berube said. "It got us easy points, though it made us rush a little with our shots."
Some of the poor shooting performance can be chalked up to early-season jitters and the jump from practice to game situations.
"We definitely need work on our shooting," Miller said. "Poor shooting happens in the beginning of the season, and we also weren't used to shooting under pressure like that. We're generally a very good shooting team, and I think that will work itself out as the season goes on."
The Rams scored the first two points of the game on a pair of foul shots by sophomore guard Katlyn Kletcha. But that was the last Suffolk lead of the game as a Powers layup and a jumper from junior forward Laura Jasinski put the Jumbos on top for good. The lead hovered in single digits until a shot from freshman Kim Moynihan gave Tufts a 29-19 halftime lead.
The pesky Rams cut it to five on a free throw by sophomore Amanda Brown with 14:06 remaining. Over the next six minutes, the Jumbos broke open the game with a 16-4 run to stretch the lead to 17 and seal the win.
While the game certainly highlighted some offensive weakness, the parity of scoring spread among the Tufts starters and subs is an encouraging sign. Behind Power's 13 points, Krah added nine, Moynihan put up eight in her collegiate debut, and seven of the eight other Jumbos that saw floor time contributed at least two buckets.
With the tournament schedule pushed back, the Jumbos' second game against RPI was cancelled after the Red Hawks were unable to stay the extra day. Tufts suits up again tonight at 7:00 p.m. against Gordon at Cousens Gym. The Jumbos will look to return the defensive effort that carried them on Saturday and fill in some of the offensive holes.
"I think we ran our stuff pretty well offensively, but we couldn't knock down open shots," Berube said. "That happens early in the year. We've got a lot to work on, but as long as defensive effort is like that every night, I'm happy."
"We'll chalk it up to first-day jitters, and hopefully, in practice take a few more shots and get our offense going," Krah said. "On the offensive end, we definitely struggled, but to have a good defensive game and be able to capitalize on turnovers really helped us mentally. For our first game, we came out hard and found things to improve on, which is good. We're going to come out with another win."
