The women's basketball team found itself seconds away from a dream start to its conference slate on Saturday. Already with a NESCAC win under their belt from the previous night, the Jumbos were tied with then-national No. 13 Williams in overtime with just 30 seconds left to play.
But a costly shot-clock violation and a tip-in by sophomore forward Danny Rainer let the Ephs off the hook and left the Jumbos looking back at what could have been.
Williams was in control for much of the night, and led by as many as nine points in the second half. But the Jumbos — despite being outsized at every position — clawed their way back, pulling to within four with just over a minute to play, with the help of superb defending and clutch shooting from a pair of young post players, sophomore Bre Dufault and freshman Ali Rocchi.
"It is not something we are especially proud of, but we seem to have been a second-half team," Rocchi said. "Coach [Carla Berube] came in at halftime and told us that we didn't have a good first half, but we can't lay down and give up, and we didn't."
From there, senior tri-captain Colleen Hart took over. Hart, the program's all-time leading scorer, hit a 3-pointer with 56 seconds to go to pull the game to within one, and then, after a layup on the other end, buried another with 12 seconds to go to tie the game. The Jumbos defended well in the closing seconds, and the Ephs could not get off a good shot, sending the game to overtime.
"I think [the comeback] shows an incredible amount of heart and determination," senior guard Vanessa Miller said. "We are a young team, but once we get going, we really, really get going. At the end we were especially feeding off our defense. It was being able to get stops and force turnovers that got us back into the game."
While the Jumbos may have had all of the momentum at the end of regulation, it did not carry over to the overtime period. Tufts missed its first three shots of the frame — as well as the front end of a 1-and-1 — and fell behind on a pair of free throws by sophomore Claire Baecher. Hart tied it with a jumper in the lane with 1:23 remaining, and after a turnover by the Ephs the Jumbos had possession with just under a minute to go.
With just three seconds left on the shot-clock, the ball went out of bounds off Williams, and the Ephs held strong on the ensuing entry pass, forcing a critical shot-clock violation.
Williams held for the final shot from there, and Tufts was able to force junior guard Jill Greenberg into an uncomfortable runner in the lane. But everything was going right for Williams at this point, and Rainer forced the ball back up and in with little more than a push, giving the Ephs their fifth win in the past seven games against Tufts.
"I can't tell you how many times I've gone over those last couple plays in my head," Miller said. "It's really important for a lot of us because we have such a history with Williams and we love to hate them. But when it comes down to it they are a very solid team, and they played very good defense and they did what they needed to do."
Tufts' defense struggled, allowing Williams to shoot 52 percent from the field, nearly 10 percentage points better than any team all season.
"Giving up points in the post is going to be a struggle for us all year because of our size," Miller said. "They are really high-percentage shots, and I'm not surprised at all that they shot at such a high percentage. As a team we really need to focus on forcing post players out of the paint and making them face up."
Despite the disappointment, there were also plenty of positives to take out of the loss. Rocchi had a season-high 13 points and eight rebounds to go with her 10 points from the night before, and Miller looked to be back in NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year form with four steals. Hart and junior guard Tiffany Kornegay scored 18 and 11 points, respectively.
Friday night's game was much smoother sailing for the Jumbos, as they stampeded through Middlebury 70-54 to open conference play.
The Panthers hung around early, and the game was tied 17-17 with just over six minutes to go in the first half. But from there Tufts went on a 14-6 run that included scoring by five different players and eventually sent the team into the locker room with a five-point advantage.
Hart set the tone in the second half, opening the scoring with a quick basket and then going end-to-end off of a steal to extend the lead to nine. From there the Jumbos cruised, and led by as many as 23. The team never trailed in the second half.
The scoring came from just about everywhere, with eight players contributing points and four ending up in double digits. Hart earned a double-double with 19 points and 10 assists, while Kornegay added 15 points and six rebounds. Freshmen Liz Moynihan and Rocchi each scored 10.
"Other teams definitely have bull's-eyes on the backs of Colleen and Tiffany, so it is important for our team for Liz to hit those open shots and that's what she's been doing," Miller said. "Ali, on the other hand, is a pretty undersized post for our league, but she's starting to figure out the ways around the defenses and she's had a couple breakthrough performances for us in the last couple games."
After splitting the two weekend games and thoroughly dominating non-conference foe Wheaton on Monday, the Jumbos now sit at 11-2 with a 1-1 conference record. A lot will be riding on next weekend's trip to Maine, where Tufts will have a pair of key matchups against Colby and Bowdoin that could go a long way toward deciding seeding in the NESCAC tournament.
"We like to take every game the same way, but in the NESCAC we tend to take the games especially seriously," Rocchi said. "These teams defend their home courts well, and it's going to be tough, but as long as we come out as hard as we did last weekend, I'm pretty confident."
