After trailing by as many as 14 in the second half, the women's basketball team was just one basket away from completing an incredible comeback and upsetting No. 12 St. Thomas in the final minute of Friday night's Sweet 16 game in Chicago. But several late-game miscommunications — both on the court and at the scorers' table — derailed their hopes of taking down the Tommies and ended their historic season.
With 21 seconds left and Tufts trailing 48-47, the Jumbos successfully inbounded the ball from half court. Two seconds ticked off the clock, but the referees felt the clock had not started quickly enough, an issue that had occurred multiple times throughout the game. The referees did not reset the clock to 21, but indicated that the Jumbos would have to inbound the ball once more.
But this time, St. Thomas's Kellie Ring stole the pass and took off down the court before she was fouled hard by freshman Kelsey Morehead as she went up for a layup. She hit both her free throws with 15 seconds left, forcing the Jumbos to hit a three to tie. They were unable to get off a clean shot in the final seconds, and as the clock hit zero, St. Thomas celebrated its 50-47 victory and trip to the Elite Eight.
The Jumbos ended their season with a record of 23-7, an impressive feat for a young squad that entered the season as a long shot to even contend in the NESCAC. But instead of letting the talk get to them, they responded with a strong campaign, ultimately reaching the Sweet 16 for just the second time in program history.
Tufts stumbled out of the gate Friday night, failing to register a bucket until the 11:53 mark in the first half. The Tommies employed a stifling full-court press that prevented Tufts from finding its groove offensively, and the Jumbos' cold shooting allowed St. Thomas to grab an 8-0 lead. The Tommies were led early on by All-MIAC first-team center Sarah Smith, whose size and skill on the block gave the Jumbos difficulty throughout the game.
"They played really good defense on us," senior co-captain guard Kate Barnosky said. "5-foot-11 guards coming at us full court was something we hadn't seen all year, so it was tough. I thought we had some good looks but we were missing a bunch of layups. We are a young team and a lot of us had never been in a pressure-packed situation like that, so there were some nerves early on."
Following a timeout called by coach Carla Berube, Tufts went on a 9-0 run of its own ignited by a deep three-pointer by Morehead. The three was one of just four makes from downtown in the game for the Jumbos, who shot a dismal 17.4 percent from long-range. Morehead had three of the four.
"When we get into lapses offensively, we need to pick up our defense and get out in transition," freshman guard Hannah Foley said. "We started pushing the ball and tried getting into a flow that way."
After a flurry of turnovers by both teams in the early minutes, the Jumbos and Tommies began to settle in and traded buckets for the better part of the first half. The Jumbos had problems handling the Tommies' height in the first half, which led to foul trouble. Tufts committed 12 fouls in the first, and St. Thomas capitalized by getting to the line early and often, where they shot nearly 85 percent for the night. It also forced senior Tiffany Kornegay, the heart of the Tufts defense, out of the game for nearly 10 minutes because of foul trouble. At intermission, St. Thomas led 22-20.
The second half started the same way the first period did: with stifling pressure defense and dominance down low from St. Thomas. Layups by 6-foot-2 sophomore forward Maggie Weiers, guard Kelly Brandenburg and Smith stretched the lead to seven by the 13:46 mark. Then, following a basket from junior guard Collier Clegg, the Tommies went on a 9-2 run, giving them a 14-point lead with only eight minutes remaining and forcing the Jumbos to call a timeout.
"With their press, we just had to be aware of where they were on the court," Foley said of the St. Thomas defense. "[Barnosky] helped bring up the ball, which helped us out. It was tough getting past their traps."
Tufts refused to go down easily. Following an inspirational speech from Berube during the timeout, Barnosky hit layups on back-to-back possessions. She was fouled on the second, and converted the free throw to bring the deficit back into single digits. A couple minutes later, Barnosky found Morehead on the wing for a three-pointer, and, on the next possession, Foley penetrated to find Morehead again for another three. All of a sudden, it was a three-point game, 44-41, and the momentum had swung back in the Jumbos' favor with just four-and-a-half minutes to play.
"We had huge fight in us one through five on the court," Barnosky said. "We had plenty of time and we knew we had a good shot if we settled down. We just needed to attack the press and attack on offense and we'd get good shots."
"We took it one stop at a time and just started slowly chipping away," Foley added. "Our shots weren't dropping, so coach said we should attack more. I think [Barnosky] did a great job of attacking and getting to the line a couple of times."
The game was back and forth from there, with Barnosky pulling the deficit to one twice in the final minutes. On one possession she got herself to the line and connected on both free throws, while the second time she hit a jump shot over her defender. For the night, the Jumbos were 13-of-14 from the line.
With just 30 seconds remaining and St. Thomas still clutching onto a one-point lead, Tufts elected to foul sophomore forward Taylor Young to stop the clock. This approach proved successful when Young, an 82.7 percent foul shooter on the season, misfired on both free-throw attempts from the line, giving the Jumbos a chance to take the lead. But the Jumbos could not successfully inbound the ball on their second try, and Ring intercepted sophomore Liz Moynihan's pass. Ring increased the margin to 50-47 at the line, and the Jumbos were unable to find the rim in their last-gasp effort.
Ultimately, it was the size and length of the Tommies that was the difference in the game. St. Thomas outrebounded Tufts while holding the Jumbos to just 24.6 percent shooting. Smith finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds, and was a perfect seven-for-seven from the field. Young also had an impressive performance with 15 points, four rebounds and two steals.
Barnosky paced the Jumbos with 11 points, five boards and three assists, while Morehead and Moynihan chipped in with nine points each. Morehead's points came on a trio of three pointers, two of which helped lead the team's second-half comeback charge.
The Tommies went on to defeat Calvin College, advancing to the Final Four next weekend in Michigan.
In one of the best seasons in program history, the Jumbos finished with five more wins than they had a year ago.
"I'm really proud of everything we accomplished," Barnosky said. "There were a lot of questions going into the season and we had a disappointing year last year not making the tourney. Everyone stepped up and proved people wrong by putting Tufts basketball back on the map."
