Women's Basketball | Jumbos pad national reputation with four-game sweep in winter break action

    The winter recess provided little respite for the nationally ranked No. 12 women's basketball team, which played four games sandwiched around the start of the new year. The Jumbos swept all four contests, capturing the WPI Holiday Invitational title and scoring a pair of non-conference wins over Emmanuel and Bates along
the way.
    Last season, Emmanuel lost to Tufts for the first time since 2004. The Saints threatened to reclaim the upper hand in the New England rivalry with the Jumbos when the two teams met in Boston on Jan. 7. Emmanuel led for much of the first half, opening up an 11-point lead with 15:56 left in regulation. But Tufts climbed all the way back, going on an 18-4 run over the next 7:04 to take a three-point lead.
    The lead changed hands three more times before the Saints took a 55-52 advantage with 4:30 to play. But the Jumbos closed the game with a resounding 13-0 run to escape with a comeback victory.
    Held scoreless in the first half, senior co-captain Kim Moynihan led the second-half charge, tallying 17 points in the period.
    "Being down in Emmanuel, it was great for us to show the resiliency that we do have and the fight to come back and get that win on the road," coach Carla Berube said.
    A week earlier, Tufts traveled to Worcester, Mass. to take part in the WPI Holiday Invitational. After coming in as the runner-up in the tournament two years ago, the Jumbos did one better this time around. Tufts captured the crown with an 81-60 victory over the host Engineers on Dec. 31 a day after topping Catholic in the opening round.
    Tufts was led by sophomore point guard and tournament MVP Colleen Hart, who notched 20 points and eight assists in the tournament finale. Junior forward Julia Baily was also named to the all-tournament team after averaging a double-double (15.5 points, 10.5 rebounds) over the
two contests.
    "The WPI Tournament was great," coach Carla Berube said. "We did some really nice things in those games. It's not easy traveling back and forth to Worcester in snow storms, but we took that tournament and got two quality wins."