Forty minutes of stagnant play cost the women's basketball team its spot atop the conference.
Nationally ranked No. 15 Tufts all but fell out of contention for a NESCAC regular-season championship Saturday with a 54-48 setback at No. 9 Amherst in a rematch of last year's conference title game. The loss, coupled with Bowdoin's 91-58 thrashing of Williams, dropped the Jumbos from first to third place in the NESCAC standings with just one conference game remaining on their schedule.
The lone bright spot of the weekend came when Tufts secured home-court advantage through the first round of the NESCAC Tournament after trouncing Trinity 64-42 Friday night in Hartford, Conn.
After losing a pair of contests to Amherst last season by an average of four points, the Jumbos found themselves in another close game with the Lord Jeffs on Saturday. After Tufts climbed back from an early 9-2 hole, the two teams were virtually deadlocked for the final 12:08 of the first half. With both squads shooting at less than 36 percent for the period, neither was able to build more than a two-point advantage, and the lead changed hands 10 times. Despite recording their slimmest point total for any half this season, the Jumbos went into halftime up 24-23.
Amherst finally broke through the stalemate 5:31 into the second half when sophomore center and reigning NESCAC Co-Player of the Week Sarah Leyman sparked a 13-3 run with a go-ahead jumper. Of the 13 points the Lord Jeffs scored during that game-busting stretch, five came off second-chance opportunities, and four came at the free throw line.
"A couple key things hurt us: one was rebounding and another was fouls," coach Carla Berube said. "We gave up a lot of offensive rebounds in the second half, and that hurt us. They outworked us. They wanted the ball more on the offensive glass, and it was disappointing to see that. Hopefully we'll learn from it and bounce back and take it to everyone else we play down the stretch because it sure didn't feel good to be outworked like that."
"They came out strong to start the second half, and we let them go on a little run," sophomore point guard Colleen Hart added. "But I thought our biggest problem was that we didn't finish well. We need to be a little stronger offensively and on the defensive boards."
Tufts stayed within striking distance for the remainder of the game, drawing as close as four with 7:54 remaining. But a stymied offense did little to help the Jumbos' comeback bid. Tufts shot a paltry 28.6 percent from the floor in the second half and converted on just four field goals over the final 10 minutes of the game.
"[Friday] against Trinity, we played some really good basketball ... Coming into Saturday, I don't know if we were just out of gas, but we didn't do what we needed to do," senior co-captain Kim Moynihan said. "We didn't carry over what we did well against Trinity. Amherst played really good defense, so credit them there."
The Jumbos didn't help their own cause, shooting below 55 percent from the free throw line for the third consecutive game. In a contest that was decided by six points, Tufts shot 7-of-14 from the charity stripe. Amherst, meanwhile, shot only 57.1 percent but still made more free throws (16) than Tufts attempted.
"We're not the type of team that goes to the free throw line 25 times, but when we do go there, we have to capitalize on our opportunities and score those points," Berube said. "There were key times when we were trying to get over a hump of four to six points, and we didn't step up and make our free throws. It's just hard to see that because we're good shooters, and we need to be able to knock those down."
Tufts was even less successful from the charity stripe against Trinity, misfiring on nine of its 13 attempts. But a lockdown defensive effort helped overcome the team's woes from the line. The Jumbos held the Bantams, who entered the game with a 15-3 record, to just 15 points on 6-of-25 shooting from the field in the first half. Trinity wound up with a season-low 42 points on just 30.4 percent shooting.
"It was a great defensive effort," Berube said. "Any time you can keep a great team like Trinity to 15 points in a half, it means you're playing good defense."
Three players reached double figures for Tufts, paced by a game-high 16 points from junior forward Julia Baily. Four of five Jumbo starters grabbed at least six boards as Tufts dominated the glass, outrebounding Trinity 52-34.
The Jumbos still have an outside shot at winning their first-ever regular-season conference championship, but they'll have to beat a 16-7 Bates team on Senior Day at Cousens Gym next Saturday and see several outcomes fall in their favor during the final weekend of NESCAC play. In addition to a win over the Bobcats, the Jumbos would need first-place Bowdoin to lose either to Wesleyan or last-place Conn. College and hope that Amherst loses to Williams and Middlebury, both of whom are under .500.
But before moving on to Bates, Tufts has a rematch with Trinity on tap for tomorrow night, though the game will not count for either team's conference record. The contest will mark the Jumbos' second trip to Hartford in the last five days.
"It's tough to have to go right back to their gym, but I think it'll be good for us to have a chance to bounce back from [the Amherst] game quickly," Hart said. "We need to come out strong and get some momentum over our last few games before the tournament."
