Box Score WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The No. 3 Tufts University women's basketball team forced Williams College to shoot 21.6 percent from the floor on Friday evening, as the Jumbos' held the Ephs to six or less points in three out of four quarters during a commanding 61-27 win in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
Junior guard Jennie Mucciarone played one of her best games of the season for the Jumbos (22-1, 9-1 in NESCAC), dropping nine points on 4-for-5 shooting from the floor, while also corralling seven rebounds during 17 minutes of action.
Senior captain Michela North (nine points, 11 rebounds, two steals), junior forward Melissa Baptista (10 points, four rebounds, three steals, two blocks, two assists) and sophomore guard Jacqueline Knapp (11 points, four rebounds) played well for the visitors, as the team saw nine different players score at least two points.
The Jumbos were focused on the task at hand from the opening whistle tonight. Senior captain and guard Josie Lee took a charge 47 seconds into the contest, setting the defensive intensity, and then North made a layup off a baseline pass by Lee. Junior captain and point guard Lauren Dillon then threaded the needle to Knapp in transition, and Knapp finished the layup and drew a foul. She converted the old-fashioned 3-point play and the Jumbos' led, 5-0, with 6:54 left in the first.
Senior guard/forward Lauren McCall of the Ephs (14-9, 3-6 in NESCAC) responded with a 3-point shot from the left of the arc 36 seconds later, but the Jumbos' finished the frame on an 11-2 spurt, claiming a 16-5 advantage heading into the second. The run started with a mid-range jumper from the right baseline by North, and then Mucciarone put a stamp on the first-quarter surge by scoring the last five points of the frame for the Jumbos. She nailed a contested 3-pointer from the right of the arc, and then utilized a hesitation move out of the post, resulting in a layup, which gave the visitors an 11-point cushion.
The Jumbos' took complete control of the game with a 20-point, second-quarter effort, which resulted in a 36-11 halftime lead. Senior forward Katy Hicks (seven points) continues to play a crucial role for the squad, as she went 3-for-3 from the field and tallied six points in the second quarter.
Mucciarone opened up the second with a runner in the lane, and then Hicks converted a layup with 2:26 left in the half, which gave the Jumbos a 32-5 lead and finished off an 18-0 spurt. The Jumbos' held the Ephs scoreless for a period of 9:26, spanning the final 1:37 of the first quarter and the opening 7:49 of the second quarter.
The Jumbos' outscored the Ephs, 8-6, in the third and 17-10 in the fourth to finish off the victory. The Jumbos' received 31 points from their bench, including a four-point, six-rebound effort by sophomore forward Katie Martensen. Freshman guard Cailin Harrington chipped in with five points, going 2-for-4 from the floor and 1-for-2 from beyond the arc.
The Jumbos' shot 40.3 percent from the field (25-for-62), 20.0 percent from downtown (3-for-15) and 72.7 percent from the charity stripe (8-for-11), while the Ephs' went 11-for-51 from the field and 5-for-16 from downtown (31.3 percent).
The Jumbos' won the rebounding battle, 45-33, while the Jumbos' forced the Ephs into 26 turnovers, scoring 22 points off those takeaways. The Jumbos were guilty of 15 turnovers, while totaling 22 points in the paint.
The Jumbos will compete in their regular-season finale against Rhode Island College on Monday at 7 p.m. in Medford, Massachusetts.
#
