To make a conclusion about the Tufts womens basketball teams 2013 season is a difficult endeavor.
In some ways, it was a disappointment. Tufts failed at two attempts to get over the Amherst hump, fell in the quarterfinals of the NESCAC Championships and failed to advance past the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive year despite returning nearly the past years entire roster.
But in other ways, it was a programdefining success. The Jumbos were ranked in the top 25 from day one, put together the longest winning streak and the highest winning percentage in program history, earned a share of the regular season conference title for the first time ever, hosted the first weekend of the NCAA tournament for a second consecutive year and cruised to a spot in the Sweet 16, where a win was no longer hoped for, but expected.
As cocaptain Kate Barnosky said, the fact that a season of this caliber could be seen as a disappointment speaks to how far this program, which had never made the NCAA tournament before the 20072008 season, has come in defining itself as truly elite.
Tufts entered the season with high expectations, after returning everyone except Tiffany Kornegay (LA12) from last seasons Sweet 16 squad and earning the schools secondhighest preseason rank in the d3hoops.com poll. The Jumbos made it through their seasonopening tournament without a loss for the first time in four years, but still didnt look their best, beating the host Skidmore College 5030 before sneaking by NESCAC rival Hamilton College, 4638, in a defensive battle.
But any fears that this years squad would have the offensive troubles like those that have plagued the program before were alleviated when Tufts scored 70 points in three straight games and averaged a win margin over nearly 24 points across six games to improve to 80.
With one game to go before break, and the team moving up to No. 10 in the polls, the undefeated streak became harder and harder to ignore.
We always said it was the elephant in the room, sophomore point guard Kelsey Morehead said. Nobody wanted to talk about it, especially with our superstitions.
That final game came against Bridgewater State, who shot the lights out of the gym in the first half and went into the locker rooms with a sixpoint lead. But Tufts responded, going on an offensive spurt of its own and doing just enough to eke out a 6766 win.
Ending on a win and knowing we could pull out those tough games proved very helpful going forward, Morehead said.
Tufts cruised to two more victories after break before opening their NESCAC season against Williams. The Jumbos wasted no time setting the tone, going on a 134 run to begin the game, and keeping the Ephs at arms length much of the way. They were still leading by 11 with twoandahalf to go, but poor decisionmaking allowed Williams to go on a 70 run in one minute, and left Tufts remembering late game collapses of years past. Morehead put those fears to rest, executing a cut on an inbounds pass perfectly and putting away the gamesealing layup as the shot clock expired.
It was awesome beating Williams because theyve always been our rivals, Barnosky said. They were kind of like an Amherst team to us where wed play tough games but couldnt beat them, so doing so was great, and even a goal we had set.
The following day, the Jumbos defeated Middlebury, 5441, marking coach Carla Berubes 200th win, and extending their winning streak to 13 games the longest in program history. Sophomore Hannah Foleys weekend, which included 13 points against Williams and 10 against Middlebury, earned her NESCAC Player of the Week honors.
When we broke the longest streak in the history of our program, that is really when we took a step back and realized that this year is something special, Barnosky said.
From there, a battle of the undefeated between Amherst and Tufts seemed inevitable. The Jumbos won each of their next nine games by double digits, improving to 80 in the NESCAC and 220 overall and climbing as high as No. 5 in the polls the best mark in program history.
The Jumbos entered LeFrak Gymnasium looking to end an eightgame losing streak to the Lord Jeffs spanning six years. But, by that point in the season, Tufts had begun to show wear and tear. Morehead was suffering from concussion symptoms from the night before, while multiple players were under the weather. They hung close the entire way but could never quite get out in front, and a banked threepointer by senior Marcia Voigt, as the shot clock expired in the closing minutes, sealed the win for Amherst.
We knew we didnt play our best against Amherst, and still only lost by six, Morehead said. I think that was another reminder of how good we are and how good we can be.
Winter storm Nemo gave the Jumbos an extended break after the loss, but the extra time just seemed to allow the teams health problems to proliferate. Junior Caitlin McClure hurt her ankle in practice, ending her season, while Barnosky sat out the beginning of the teams regular season finale against Hamilton because of complications in her surgicallyrepaired leg. Morehead was still not cleared to play, and what should have been an easy Senior Night win turned into a scrappy 5737 win that doesnt reflect the Jumbos underwhelming of a performance.
We were definitely run down, and I think we had some bad luck as well, Barnosky said. I dont know what the chances were that a bunch of us were going to get sick or hurt in the same week.
The win was enough to earn Tufts a 91 finish in NESCAC play, and a win by Williams over Amherst meant a threeway split of the conference title. The Jumbos earned the No. 1 seed in the NESCAC tournament on random drawing, giving them the chance to host the semifinals and finals if they could get through the quarterfinals.
None of us could believe we got the lucky draw, because that doesnt usually go our way, Barnosky said. I think it showed all of the hard work that we had put in the whole year.
It was in the quarterfinals that they ran into Bowdoin, a team they beat by 18 a month earlier. But the Jumbos, with Morehead returning, were still far from 100 percent, while the Polar Bears played the best game of their season, hitting 11of19 from beyond the arc. Tufts was able to grab a twopoint lead with under three minutes to play, but missed their final five shots, allowing Bowdoin to end the game on an 80 run.
The shocking loss gave the Jumbos almost two weeks off before the NCAA tournament, to which they were still assured a bid. The time was important, both for the team to heal, and to get their heads on straight.
We had a team meeting that Monday, and we made sure we were back on track and that we knew all of our goals for the rest of the season, and where we would go from there, Morehead said. It really refocused us, and in the long run it did help us a lot.
Good news came in from the NCAA tournament selection show, which announced that the Jumbos would host for a second straight season. But the injuries continued to pile up, with junior Ali Rocchi suffering back pain that kept her out the rest of the way.
I honestly didnt think we were going to be able to host, I thought that kind of went out the window, Morehead said. Being able to host makes such a difference. It was our second chance, and we really had to bring it.
After struggling through two games against inferior opponents in last years opening NCAA weekend, the Jumbos looked much more comfortable this time around. They opened things up on a 195 run that included going 4for4 from distance in the opening six minutes against St. Lawrence, and they cruised from there, winning 5732. Then, against Babson the following day, Tufts dared Beavers star senior forward Sarah Collins to try to beat them by herself, but, while she put in 20 points, Foley nearly matched her with 18 of her own, and the Jumbos cruised to the Sweet 16, 5335.
We werent thinking about how far we were going to go, it was just winning the next game, we have to win the next game, Barnosky said. That weekend, losing wasnt an option.
One more time, Tufts was forced to travel to western Massachusetts for a game against the Lord Jeffs, and though they started off slow, the Jumbos hung around for the entire game. But facing just a twopoint deficit, the team went cold offensively, and Amherst managed to hang on and end Tufts season.
The campaign wasnt just a success for the team the Jumbos impressed on an individual level as well. Barnosky earned first team AllNESCAC honors, while Foley made the second team. Senior cocaptain Bre Dufault became the sixth straight Tufts player to win NESCAC defensive player of the year, while sophomore Hayley Kanner finished third in the conference in blocks per game, despite playing significantly fewer minutes than the leaders.
While the team will mourn the loss of its veteran leaders in Barnosky, Dufault and Maggie Riddle, the sophomore class that included three of the teams starters seems more than ready to pick up where they left off.
They were huge parts of our team, and they really stepped up, Barnosky said of the sophomore class. They were great as freshmen, but came back even better. You could see it right away in the preseason. Thats whats going to make them so much better in the future, that they arent settling, that they wanted to be even more dominant.
Of course, the juniors Rocchi, McClure and Liz Moynihan will return healthy next year, while freshman Emma Roberson proved her worth in heavy minutes during the NCAA tournament. With the amount of talent that will still be practicing in Cousens next year, its hard to deny that the skys the limit for this squad.
It makes you wonder if the biggest success this season for the Jumbos was that the year felt like a failure.
Right now, it hurts, and I want to say that we should have won that game, Barnosky said. Of course there are times in games and in practice where we didnt have 100 percent, but I can confidently say that we left it all out there in that last game. Its a good feeling to look back and know we gave it all we could.
