For the fourth time this season, a Jumbo player has been named NESCAC Women's Basketball Player of the Week. This time the nod went to Jumbo senior co-captain Laura Jasinski, who had a monstrous first-round of the NESCAC tournament, with a season-high 17 points, nine rebounds, and four steals in the Jumbos' 65-50 win over seventh-seeded Middlebury at Cousens on Saturday.
Jasinski joins classmate Valerie Krah, who received the honor on Feb. 5, and junior Khalilah Ummah, who received the honor twice this season - on Dec. 11 and Jan. 15 - as the third member of the squad to receive the recognition. The Jumbos have now won four of the total 12 Player of the Week awards given out this season.
It should come as no surprise that three of the four awards have been handed out to post players, as the inside play has emerged as the difference-maker this season. Tufts has always been solid from beyond the arc, but this year, it has exhibited versatility, throwing an often unstoppable two-pronged attack at its defenders.
The senior is fourth on the points per game list, averaging 7.2. But more importantly, Jasinski has dominated the boards, notching 6.6 rebounds per game, with a career high 159 this season and 439 in her career. This puts her 17th on the all-time rebound list at Tufts.
Jasinski's performance helped the Jumbos earn their first NESCAC Tournament win in six tries. Hoping to end the era of Bates-Bowdoin championship game match-ups, coach Carla Berube's squad will play No. 3-seeded Bates College on Saturday in Brunswick, Maine. A win over the Bobcats on Saturday will set up a game against the winner of the Bowdoin-Williams game, and give the team a shot at the NESCAC crown.
-by Lauren Ebstein
