BIDDEFORD, ME (November 26, 2023) -- The No. 4 Tufts University women's basketball team outscored host University of New England by 10 in the third quarter, pulling away for a 64-50 non-conference victory over the Nor'Easters in action from Coach Beaudry's Court Sunday afternoon.
The Jumbos (5-1) have now won five straight after an opening night defeat at No. 5 Rhode Island College, and won despite shooting only 37.7 percent from the floor. The difference in the game was the third quarter, as 15 of the 21 points in the period came from Jumbo seniors including eight points from
Callie O'Brien as Tufts outscored its hosts 21-11. In the frame, the game was tied at 37 with 5:32 to play but O'Brien started a 7-0 run that was capped by a triple from senior
Samantha Sousa to force a UNE (4-2) timeout.
The Nor'Easters would hit a three to stop the run but Tufts tallied the final seven points of the period to take a 51-40 lead going into the fourth quarter. The lead would stay around 10 for the remainder of the game until a triple from sophomore
Annie Aspesi gave the Jumbos their largest lead at 14 with just under four minutes to go. A late lay-up by Sousa would finish the game's scoring, as the Jumbos picked up their second road win of the season.
The first quarter was controlled by UNE, as Jordyn Franzen posted a lay-up with 2:26 to play in the first frame to take an eight-point lead at 18-10. After trailing 20-16 after 10 minutes, Tufts finished the second quarter on an 8-0 run with ended with a driving lay-up from junior
Annika Decker to take a 30-29 edge at the break.
Sousa tallied a team-high 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting, adding a team-best nine rebounds in 36 minutes of action. O'Brien was 6-of-16 from the field en route to 12 points, and senior
Maggie Russell tallied nine points and nine rebounds as she was 7-of-8 from the line.
Aspesi came off the bench to score a career-high nine points, going 3-of-4 from three-point range, pulling in five boards on the afternoon. The Jumbos dominated on the glass on Sunday, posting a 52-29 edge, and tallied a 30-14 advantage in points in the paint.
Faye Veilleux posted 14 points to pace the Nor'Easters Sunday, and Franzen added 11 points as well in the loss.
Tufts will host Massachusetts Institute of Technology Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in Cousens Gymnasium on Tye Court in more non-conference action.
--JUMBOS--
