The women's basketball team will enter the NESCAC tournament this weekend as the second seed after finishing its regular season with a 19-5 overall record and an 8-2 mark in NESCAC play. The Jumbos will look to improve on their playoff performance of a year ago, when they lost an overtime thriller to Williams in the first round.
This season, the NESCAC tournament should prove to be very competitive, as six of the eight squads boast overall win percentages above .700. The Jumbos, along with top-seeded Amherst, No. 3 Bowdoin and No. 4 Colby, will host first-round quarterfinal games on Saturday.
To get you ready, the Daily dissects the eight teams looking to capture the 2011-12 NESCAC crown.
No. 1 seed: Amherst (24-0 overall, 10-0 NESCAC)
The Lord Jeffs enter the tournament on a 43-game win streak dating back to the middle of last season, in which they captured the Div. III national title. This season, Amherst has held the top national ranking since the preseason and has dominated every opponent right from the start. The Lord Jeffs led the league in nearly every team statistical category during the regular season, including scoring offense, scoring defense, scoring margin and total rebounding.
They enter their first-round matchup on Saturday against No. 8 Trinity as heavy favorites, having defeated the Bantums by a 22-point margin earlier in the season. Amherst's success this year has been the result of a balanced offense — which includes four players who average over nine points per game — and a gritty defense that uses its size advantage to stifle opponents. If the Lord Jeffs are playing well, it will take a miracle for any of the other seven teams to knock them off their throne.
No. 2 seed: Tufts (19-5, 8-2)
The Jumbos earned their highest seed since 2008 and will welcome the No. 7 Camels to Cousens Gym on Saturday afternoon. The key for the Jumbos all season has been their incredible team defense; their versatility and quickness forces opponents to commit turnovers and attempt low-percentage shots. On Jan. 21, the Jumbos put together arguably their best performance of the season against the Camels, holding them to 21 points on 12.8 percent shooting from the field.
Like Amherst, the Jumbos thrive offensively due to a balanced attack that features eight players averaging at least six points per game. Senior guard Tiffany Kornegay, who is among the top candidates for NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year honors, has been stellar all season. She ranks in the top 30 in the league in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks.
No. 3 seed: Bowdoin (18-6, 7-3)
The Polar Bears have been roaring of late, winning seven of their last eight games to earn a home matchup against the No. 6 Cardinals in the first round. Last time the two teams played, Bowdoin took advantage of a second-half collapse by Wesleyan to win by a score of 70-56. Leading the way for the Polar Bears is a three-time NESCAC Player of the Week senior Jill Henrikson, who leads the conference in scoring and is perhaps the top candidate for NESCAC Player of the Year. She has help, too, as all five Bowdoin starters are averaging at least seven points per game.
The Polar Bears are more likely to be plagued by their defense, which ranks eighth in the conference in points allowed. If Bowdoin is going to have a shot at claiming the NESCAC title, Henrikson's supporting cast will have to step up and contribute on both sides of the ball.
No. 4 seed: Colby (18-6, 7-3)
After losing the head-to-head tiebreaker to the Polar Bears, the Mules fell into fourth place and face a first-round date with the No. 5 Ephs in Waterville, Maine, on Saturday. Williams is going to have its hands full trying to contain the twin towers that are seniors Rachael Mack and Jill Vaughan. Mack and Vaughan, who stand at 6-foot-2 and 6-foot-3, respectively, have wreaked havoc on their opponents all season, landing in the top eight in the NESCAC in points, rebounds, blocks and field goal percentage. The duo averaged a combined 26.4 points and 15.8 rebounds per game during the regular season, and for the Mules to go far in the tournament, they must continue to dominate in the paint.
No. 5 seed: Williams (19-5, 6-4)
After starting the season with 14 wins in their first 15 games, the Ephs cooled down during the final month, losing three of their last six contests. When they met the Mules on Feb. 3, they came out on top 62-56 behind big games from Grace Rehnquist and Jill Greenberg. Those two, along with Claire Baecher are averaging a combined 37.7 points per game. If Williams is going to defeat Colby on the road this weekend, its trio of double-digit scorers will have to outplay the mighty Mack and Vaughan.
No. 6 seed: Wesleyan (13-8, 5-5)
The Cardinals enter the postseason on a two-game skid, and they have struggled defensively of late, allowing over 64 points per game in their last four contests. Wesleyan has been inconsistent this season, and their offense — which ranks ninth in the conference — will need to avoid long droughts in its first-round matchup against the Henrikson-ledBowdoin squad.
No. 7 seed: Conn. College (16-6, 5-5)
The Camels will have to do their best to forget about their last matchup against the Jumbos, when they scored just 21 points on their home court and were outplayed in every aspect of the game. The key matchup in this game will be Conn. College's NESCAC Player of the Year candidate Jenn Shinall against Kornegay. When the two last squared off, Kornegay dominated defensively, holding Shinall to four points on 12.5 percent shooting. Shinall and sophomore phenom Tara Gabelman are the second- and third-leading scorers in the league, and Gabelman is also atop the NESCAC in rebounding.
No. 8 seed: Trinity (10-12, 3-7)
Trinity enters this David-versus-Goliath matchup having won three of its last four games, and on Saturday it took Williams to overtime before losing 80-76. That said, they will need nothing short of a miracle to pull off an upset against undefeated Amherst. The undersized Bantams are not equipped to handle the dominant inside presence of the Lord Jeffs, and they will likely be pushed around at every position.
