The women's basketball team put together a convincing 92-67 victory against Endicott on Tuesday night, bolstered by 38 percent shooting from the floor. Five days later, the result looked disappointingly dissimilar for the Jumbos as they fell victim to a Brandeis Judges team 81-76 -- a team they held to 21 percent scoring from the floor en route to a 57-43 victory last year.
The loss dropped Tufts to 3-1 on the year, as Brandeis improved to 5-0 in a battle of unbeatens.
Defense was the primary issue in yesterday's loss, as the 81 points allowed marked a season high for the squad through its four games.
"This loss stems more from our defense and the fact that we allowed them to shoot 52 percent from the floor in the second half," senior forward Katie Tausanovitch said. "The defense is something that we really could control and didn't."
Still, the game was close from start to finish as the largest lead of the match was only eight points in favor of the Judges.
Senior forward Lauren Orlando and junior guard Jessica Chapin led the way for Brandeis with 20 and 19 points, respectively. For Tufts, Tausanovitch, who is also a layout editor for the Daily, topped all scorers with 20 points and six boards. Senior co-captain Kim Moynihan chipped in with 11 points, nine rebounds and five assists in a solid all-around effort.
"It's a bittersweet experience," Tausanovitch said. "I had a good personal offensive day but above all we lost, and the goal here is to win and that is much more important."
Junior forward Julia Baily notched 12 points and seven rebounds in the loss to go along with her outstanding effort Tuesday against the Gulls where she tallied a career high 27 points and 13 rebounds to lead Tufts to the victory.
The Judges created a seven-point 22-15 advantage early on in the first half, but the Jumbos rallied back to take a 23-22 lead with an 8-0 run punctuated by a layup by junior guard Casey Sullivan. Tufts and Brandeis matched baskets until the end of the half, which ended in a 34-34 tie.
"I think our team did a really good job of staying level-headed as we went back and forth," Moynihan said. "You just have to have confidence in your team and know that you can always bring yourself back into the game."
The Judges came out strong in the second half, however, going on a 14-6 run to take an eight-point 48-40 lead with 15 minutes left.
"That little run they went on was definitely a lack of communication on our end," Moynihan said. "We just tried to stay composed and work our way back into it."
The Jumbos cut the lead to two, 50-48, before Brandeis scored five straight points to take a 55-48 lead with just over ten minutes left in the game. The back and forth continued as Tufts notched two straight baskets to pull within three with 8:42 remaining before they fell behind by seven yet again with seven minutes left, 62-55.
The Jumbos never let the Judges get too far ahead, managing to fight back to a 63-63 tie with five minutes to go on a basket by Tausanovitch.
But Tufts could not get over the hump, and the Judges pulled ahead for good, answering all of Tufts' comeback attempts down the stretch. Tufts pulled within three with 10 seconds left, but a pair of free throws by Orlando sealed the Jumbos' fate.
Aside from mustering the defense needed to keep the Judges at bay, the Jumbos also shot just 25 percent from behind the three-point line during the contest, an area of their game that must be improved upon in order for the team to succeed; the squad cashed in on just five out of its 20 three-point attempts.
"There is no way that a team can shoot consistently from the three-point line every game of the season," Tausanovitch said. "We're a good three-point shooting team, but you can't win games if you're only a good three-point shooting team. I think we've proven throughout the year that we have other offensive options."
As the squad prepares for another contest on the road against Salem State tomorrow, Tufts knows which areas to focus on in order to prevent another narrow loss.
"Definitely defense," Moynihan said. "We're going to harp on that from here on out and make teams not want to run offense against us."
