The women's basketball team may be 7-0 in the NESCAC, but the real test comes tonight.
With two games remaining, coach Carla Berube's squad will undoubtedly encounter the toughest challenge of the 2006-07 campaign - a 7 p.m. match-up in Brunswick, Maine with the No. 2 team in the country, the Bowdoin Polar Bears.
No doubt the Jumbos remember the last time they squared off with Bowdoin during last year's NESCAC Tournament on Feb. 18. Needless to say, it did not end well for Tufts, as the then-No. 6 Polar Bears rallied from a halftime deficit to defeat Tufts 52-41 and eliminate the Jumbos from the tournament quarterfinals. Still, that ending was a marked improvement from the 73-56 loss Berube's team suffered earlier in the 2005-06 season.
But this year, a rejuvenated and confident Jumbo crew is determined to prevent history from repeating itself. At 7-0 in conference play, Tufts has already outdone last year's 6-3 mark, and it still has two games left on the schedule. A loss to Bowdoin tonight, however, would secure yet another regular-season title for the Polar Bears, relegating Tufts to the No. 2 seed.
Leading the league in nearly every offensive category, Bowdoin will force the Jumbos to rely on their defense - the team's bread and butter during the Berube era - especially when it comes to guarding senior Eileen Flaherty, the league's leading scorer.
And as if facing Bowdoin in the penultimate game of the regular season is not enough, the Jumbos will have to play Colby the following afternoon. Though the Mules are not impressive as far as NESCAC standings are concerned, Tufts cannot be complacent against a presumably weaker opponent, something that has plagued them this season.
- by Rachel Dolin
