Box Score 
HARTFORD – The #2 seed Tufts University women's basketball team fell to #3 seed Amherst College 73-59 in the semifinals of the NESCAC Tournament on Saturday afternoon at Trinity College.
Tufts started the game off strong, scoring consecutive baskets on a Molly Ryan layup and Callie O'Brien jumper to go up 4-0 early. Neither team struggled to score in the first quarter, as the teams traded baskets, finding themselves tied at eight when Amherst's Courtney Resch hit a layup to give the Mammoths a 10-8 lead. Ryan responded with a three-pointer to take the lead back for the Jumbos with 4:12 left in the quarter. The offensive match-up continued as both teams went back and forth to end the first quarter, with Amherst senior Dani Valdez leading the Mammoths to a 21-18 lead with her game-high 10 first-quarter points.
Amherst seemed to gather more momentum in the second quarter, starting on a 14-5 run and extending their lead to 12 with just over six minutes left in the half. Tufts slowly climbed back into the game throughout the remainder of the quarter, largely due to a 6-0 run on consecutive baskets from Angela Alibrandi and a Maggie Russell (pictured) deep jumper to make it a six-point game with 2:46 left until halftime. The teams went on to trade baskets to head into halftime with a score of 41-35 in favor of Amherst, who was led by freshman AnLing Vera's 16 first-half points.
The second half started with a 7-1 run from the Mammoths to tie their largest lead of the game at 12 just four and a half minutes into the third quarter. They successfully limited the chance of a Jumbos run, holding them to just 11 points in the quarter, but two O'Brien free throws at the end got Tufts within 11 points heading into the fourth.
Amherst continued to control the game and limit scoring opportunities on defense to keep their large lead, even going up by as many as 13 points with just under eight minutes to go. This is when the Jumbos started to fight back into the game, pressing on defense to force Amherst mistakes and playing high-energy basketball. With 6:16 left, after three consecutive Tufts points, Ryan received a pass from O'Brien and made a three-pointer to put the Jumbos within seven points, cutting the Amherst lead to 61-54. Russell drove in for a layup to follow that up, continuing the Tufts run and making it a five-point game with four minutes left. After a minute and a half of scoreless basketball from both teams, Vera sunk three free throws to widen the margin and give the Mammoths the momentum they would need to finish off strong for the 73-59 victory.
Vera finished the game with a game-high 23 points along with seven assists while Russell was the Jumbos' leader with 17 points and 10 rebounds for the double-double. Resch finished with a double-double as well for the Mammoths scoring 14 points with 12 rebounds. Tufts had two other double-digit scorers in Ryan and Alibrandi as they both finished with 11 points.
Tufts (20-4) will await a probable NCAA Tournament berth on Monday afternoon. Amherst will take on Bates, a 57-55 winner over host Trinity in today's other semifinal, for the NESCAC championship tomorrow.
Written by Tim O'Brien, Athletic Communications Intern
