After winning the biggest game of their college lives, the women's basketball players were, understandably, a bit giddy.
"We're going on a plane, we're going on a plane," the team chanted in the Cousens Gymnasium locker room just moments after defeating Johns Hopkins to advance to the Sweet 16 of the Div. III NCAA Tournament. The team will indeed be flying high on their way to Chicago later this week, where they will do battle with Thomas (Minn.) on Friday in the sectional semifinals. It will be the first time Tufts flies to a game since 2009.
So, how are they feeling?
"On top of the world," senior co-captain Kate Barnosky said after the game. "So good."
"Ecstatic," coach Carla Berube said after taking several moments to find the right word.
The Jumbos are one of 16 teams left standing in the national tournament after winning a four-team pod on their home floor this weekend. On Friday, they beat Misericordia 61-57 in the first round, and followed it up on Saturday by dispatching of Johns Hopkins with a 55-46 victroy. Now, Tufts will head to Chicago with a 23-6 record and a plenty of poise.
"We played confident and played Jumbo basketball," Barnosky said. "It was awesome that we got the honor to host and play in front of our home crowd."
On Saturday night in the Round of 32, coach Carla Berube's squad was forced to show its resilience after letting the Blue Jays claw their way back into the game.Tufts came out firing, climbing to a 13-4 lead less than midway through the first half. But from there things settled down, and much of the rest of the opening 20 minutes was a defensive battle -- not surprising in a matchup between two teams allowing fewer than 50 points per game this season.
Tufts carried a 10-point lead into the half behind the stellar play of senior co-captain Kate Barnosky, an all-NESCAC second-team selection, who finished the first period with 11 points and four rebounds.
But after shooting just 30 percent from the field in the first half, Hopkins found its stroke early in the second period and went on a 12-2 run that tied the game at 31 with 12 minutes left. Their offensive surge was complimented by staunch defense; the Jumbos didn't make a field goal for more than eight minutes in the second half.
Tufts rediscovered its rhythm from there and extended the lead to 47-38 with five and a half minutes left on back-to-back buckets from sophomore guard Caitlin McClure and freshman center Hayley Kanner.
Yet Hopkins maintained a never-say-die, cutting the deficit to four points at the 1:14 mark following a score from senior Stephanie Fong, who carried the team for much of the night. Barnosky responded by sinking two free throws to put Tufts ahead 52-46, and after the Blue Jays misfired on three chances from beyond the arc, freshman point guard Kelsey Morehead finally came down with the rebound and was sent to the line. She nailed them both, and Barnosky hit another pair from the line to seal the 55-46 victory and book the Jumbos their first trip to the Sweet 16 since the 2007-08 season.
"We knew that we needed to put together a really solid 40 minutes to beat a great team in Johns Hopkins," Berube said. "We had a good lead and they fought back, and it was a game of runs. Luckily, down the stretch, that was our run. We were attacking and that led to us getting fouled, and we knocked down some big free throws."
The Blue Jays had a few opportunities to garner a lead in the second half, but miserable free throw shooting contributed to their inability to pull away -- they shot just 38.5 percent from the line in the final 20 minutes.
Barnosky finished the game with 18 points and seven rebounds in a season-high 36 minutes. Sophomore guard Liz Moynihan continued her hot play of late, recording 11 points, two steals and two blocks. NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year Tiffany Kornegay notched four points and nine boards.
Stephanie Fong paced the Blue Jays with 14 points and two assists.
The well-balanced team effort that's been the Jumbos' formula for success all season – all nine Tufts players who saw the court on Saturday scored – once again carried the day for them. It was also their team effort on defense that allowed them to contain junior Alex Vassila, who Hopkins typically runs their offense through. On this night, constant double teams forced her and Fong into a combined eight turnovers as they tried to link up and frustrated Vassila to the point where she gave an unnecessarily hard foul that easily could have been a technical late in the first half. She was also held to just three points.
"[Stopping Vassila] was going to take our post players working constantly, never stop moving, so that their perimeter players can't see, they don't know where to pass it to, or what side," Berube said. "And I think we did a good job of doubling from the weak side. It wasn't a call, but it was just us being ballers and just being opportunistic with those doubles...And I think our guards did a great job of ball pressure on the outside to make it really hard for them to see inside."
The previous evening, the Jumbos survived some nervous moments to edge out Misericordia 61-57 in the tournament's opening round.
Leading for the majority of the game, Tufts extended its lead to 10 when freshman guard Hannah Foley hit a three-pointer with 13:52 remaining in the second half. But from that point on, the Cougars made their way back into the game, led by last season's Freedom Conference Player of the Year Christine Marks, who had 13 points and nine rebounds in the period.
"Marks is an excellent, excellent basketball player, and they have a great supporting cast around her, and we had trouble defending them," Berube said.
"She's a great player, especially being 6-foot-1," Barnosky added. "But also the NESCAC prepared us very well to match up against other good teams, especially with all the good players in our conference. She was just another player we had to see and we had to stop."
With Tufts up seven and less than left on the clock, a pair of Marks free throws followed by a clutch three-pointer by Robinson cut the deficit to just two with 38 seconds remaining. The Jumbos missed two free throws, and the Cougars brought the ball up the floor with a chance to tie or take the lead.
The possession went exactly as planned for Misericorida, as Marks received the ball underneath the basket. But Marks missed a layup and got her own rebound, and as she went up again Moynihan made a game-saving block from behind. Kornegay came up with it and got fouled, and after making her first shot at the line, she missed the second and soared into the lane to grab the rebound with nine seconds left.
Kornegay was fouled immediately, and she made one-of-two to give the Jumbos a 61-57 lead and effectively clinch the victory.
"Tiffany really pushed it out there and made plays when we needed to," Berube said. "[She had] the offensive rebound. The free-throw shooting, I wish it went a little better than it did, but, you know, we made the couple that we needed to."
Kornegay put together a phenomenal all-around effort, posting 15 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals. Junior guard Collier Clegg also had an excellent game with 11 points, five boards, two steals and two blocks. The Jumbos won in spite of Marks's stellar performance; she finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds. The Cougars ended their season with a record of 17-11.
Now, the next stop for the Jumbos is the University of Chicago, where they will take on the 28-1 St. Thomas Tommies. The Tommies are currently ranked 10th in the nation after winning the MIAC (Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) championship.
But the Jumbos are at the top of their game, and they see no reason why their magical run should end on Friday.
"[There's a] little chip on our shoulder which we still have," Barnosky said after the second-round win. "We're not satisfied. We don't want to just stop at the Sweet 16. We want to keep going."
