As the adage goes, all good things must come to an end.
Coach Carla Berube's squad certainly learned that on Friday night, as the mighty Polar Bears took the wind out its sails by halting the Jumbos' seven-game undefeated streak in the NESCAC with a 60-41 victory. Still, Tufts rebounded in its second game of the weekend to beat Colby 71-62, finishing the season 16-7 overall, and 8-1 in the conference.
"I think the win [on Saturday] was nice to get us back on track," sophomore Kim Moynihan said. "We ended 8-1 in the NESCAC, so it's nice to have a record like that and go into the tournament feeling confident."
Friday's game was not so uplifting, however. Not only did the Jumbos have the daunting task of squaring-off against Bowdoin, but they also had to play the Polar Bears on a court that had yielded a 76-game winning streak, until Maine-Maritime handed the No. 2 team its sole loss of the season on Jan. 17.
Accordingly, the Bears established their dominance early, jumping out to a 14-2 lead, with sophomore Alexa Kaubris adding eight of her own points during that span. After senior Valerie Krah notched her team's first basket at the 16:29 mark, they hit a dry spell that held them scoreless until just before the 12-minute mark. But the Jumbos kept the game within reach, as the Bowdoin lead hovered at six points with six minutes remaining in the half.
But every time Tufts whittled down the lead, Bowdoin responded with a vengeance, picking up its defense, and forcing the Jumbos to turn the ball over 20 times during the course of the game.
"We definitely didn't play our best game," Moynihan said. "We started off really slow. I don't know why that was. We just couldn't get it together really and never put a run together."
The first half was not indicative of the way Tufts has played throughout the season, as Bowdoin forced 12 turnovers and held its opponent to 25 percent shooting from the floor. The duo of Kaubris and senior forward Eileen Flaherty - the NESCAC's leading scorer - combined for 16 points to pace its team to a 29-19 lead at the intermission.
The second half featured more of the same, as the Jumbos could never get over the seven-point hump. Once again, Tufts struggled from the field, shooting 21 percent to finish the game at 23 percent. In an attempt to cut into the deficit, the Jumbos' usually reliable outside shooting was cold, finishing only 1-for-7 in the game. But the inside game could not pick up the slack, as the Polar Bears had a 22-8 edge in points in the paint and out-rebounded Tufts 43-40.
"Part of it was their defense," senior forward Laura Jasinski said. "They have great defensive pressure and good help defense. But we missed a lot of open shots. It was mostly just us not hitting shots we normally make."
Saturday was a different story however, as Tufts had no problem finding its shooting rhythm against Colby.
Tufts shot a blistering 51 percent from the field in the first half and showed a marked improvement in its ability to take care of the basketball, finishing with only 11 turnovers. The Jumbos got a huge lift off their bench from junior forward Khalilah Ummah, who returned to her early-season form, and finished with a team-high 17 points along with seven boards.
The team also saw strong nights from Krah, who checked in with 16 points and five assists, as well as senior guard Taryn Miller-Stevens, who finished with a tri-fecta of six points, six rebounds, and six assists.
For the Mules, sophomore forward Lauren Duval came off the bench to score a career-high 20 points, while senior guard Tracy Nale added 17 as the duo combined to keep its team close.
With its 8-1 conference record, Tufts claimed a second-seed in the NESCAC tournament, awarding itself with a home game against seventh-seeded Middlebury on Saturday.
"We are definitely taking it one game at a time," Jasinski said. "We know in this league anyone can beat anyone on any given night, so we are focusing on Middlebury."
