As the highly anticipated conference season tipped off last weekend, the women's basketball team kept the ball rolling.
Nationally ranked No. 11 Tufts opened its NESCAC schedule in Cousens Gym with a pair of runaway victories: an 83-62 clubbing of Williams on Friday night, followed by a 60-41 trouncing of Middlebury the next afternoon. The wins improved the Jumbos' mark to 11-1 and upped their winning streak to eight games. (After last night's win over Wheaton, it is now nine.)
"Of course, NESCAC play is our main focus," senior co-captain Stacy Filocco said. "We really see all of our games up to this point as preparing us for the NESCAC season. A lot of our goals are tied into doing as well as we can in NESCAC play, so it was great to start off 2-0 ... We know that we'll be further challenged in the next couple weeks, but that was a great way to start off."
Saturday's tilt against the Panthers represented one of the Jumbos' least productive offensive days of the season, as Tufts was limited to its lowest point total of the year and held to under 40 percent shooting for just the fourth time this season.
"We had a lot of possessions where the shot clock was going down and where we hung [sophomore guard Colleen Hart] out to dry and she had to throw up a bomb," coach Carla Berube said. "I don't think we were getting after it on the offensive end. We weren't attacking ... Part of it in the first half was that we gave up so many offensive rebounds; we weren't able to get some easier shots in the break. We had to slow down our offense, and it became stagnant."
But what the Jumbos lacked in offensive efficiency, they made up for in defensive intensity, as Tufts held Middlebury to season lows of 41 points and 25.9 percent shooting, with no Middlebury player reaching double figures in points.
"I think that that was definitely our best defensive performance by far, especially on the perimeter," Filocco said. "They have some guards that came in that were averaging double figures, and we held them to single-digit scoring. I think in general, we just got after it a lot more aggressively, which is something that we've been working on and stressing in practice. It was nice to see that come out in the game."
Middlebury threatened to stage a second-half comeback, whittling an 11-point halftime deficit down to three with 11:23 left in the period. But from then on, Tufts' stifling defense took over, stymieing the Panthers for the next 9:32. During that stretch, the Jumbos scored 16 unanswered points, as the Panthers misfired on all 10 of their field goal tries and were forced into five turnovers.
"Defensively, we definitely showed up in the Middlebury game," Berube said. "To keep Middlebury, which is an experienced team with a lot of returners, to under 30 percent shooting was great. We made them work for 30 seconds, we got into the passing lanes, and they weren't able to set up their offense easily ... It was great to see how hard we got after it defensively."
Junior guard Casey Sullivan led all scorers with a career-high 15 points to go along with two blocks and two steals, while senior forward Katie Tausanovitch added a double-double.
A day earlier, Tufts exacted revenge against a Williams squad whose victory over the Jumbos last season ultimately denied the team its first-ever NESCAC regular season title. Tufts needed little time to seize control of the rematch, scoring 24 of the game's first 31 points. From then on, the shorthanded Ephs -- who played without starting guard freshman Jill Greenberg (hamstring) and saw limited time from starting forwards sophomore Chessie Jackson (flu) and freshman Lisa Jaris (first-half knee injury) -- never got closer than 11, as Tufts cruised to its second-most-lopsided victory over Williams in the last 20 years.
Keying the blowout performance was a blistering offensive attack. The Jumbos shot 56.3 percent from the floor in the second half and crossed the 80-point mark for the fifth time this season.
"Putting 83 points on the board was great," Berube said. "Like I tell my team, I'd rather have a 65-40 score than an 83-[62] score, but it does mean that we can put points on the board ... To do that against a Williams team who's typically a very good defensive team, a defensive-minded team, it's great to see that."
In a showcase of Tufts' depth, five players reached double figures in scoring. Hart led the way with 16 points on 4-of-5 from beyond the arc, falling an assist shy of a double-double. Junior forward Julia Baily tallied 14 points and 12 rebounds, while freshman forward Rachel Figaro came off the bench to add 13 points, seven rebounds and five steals.
After last night's win over non-conference rival Wheaton, the Jumbos will next hit the court this weekend for a pair of NESCAC road games against Colby and Bowdoin.
