MEDFORD, MA (February 24, 2023) -- The Tufts University women's basketball team has its sights set on the 2023 New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championships this weekend, hosting at Cousens Gymnasium in Medford.
Championship Details:
2023 NESCAC Women's Basketball Championships
Dates: Saturday, February 25 - Sunday, February 26
Location: Medford, MA – Cousens Gymnasium (Directions)
Coverage: TOURNAMENT WEBSITE
The Jumbos come into this weekend with an 19-6 record and 9-1 NESCAC record on the year, including winning their last seven games. Tufts entered the NESCAC Tournament as the No. 1 seed and defeated No. 8 seed Bowdoin College on Saturday 75-61.
Tufts is led by Junior Maggie Russell who scored a career-high 40 points as she shot a perfect 16-16 from the free throw line on Saturday. Coming out of halftime, the Tufts offense would explode as it connected on 10 of its 11 field goals in the third quarter, shooting 91 percent in the frame allowing them to extend their lead and never look back.
The Jumbos have the No. 1 scoring offense in the conference as they score about 66 points per game. Tufts has made the second most three pointer in the conference this season and shoots about 30% from behind the three-point line. Russell has the No. 3 scoring average in the conference as she averages 19.7 points per game along with grabbing 10.8 rebounds per game. Along with Russell is sophomore guard Sofia Gonzalez who is shooting about 40% from three-point range this season including knocking down five in two of her last four games.
The semifinal opponent for the Jumbos is the No. 4 seed Middlebury College. Middlebury enters the semifinal round with a 15-10 record and a 5-5 NESCAC record. The Panthers defeated Hamilton College in their quarterfinal matchup at Middlebury, VT 66-52. Middlebury trailed by 11 at halftime before outscoring Hamilton 45-20 in the second half including a 23-9 4th quarter. Sophomore guard Alexa Mustafaj led the way as she scored 30 points. She leads all NESCAC scorers averaging 21.9 points per game.
In the pervious matchup earlier this season between Tufts and Middlebury at Cousens Gymnasium, the Jumbos were victorious by a score of 68-59. Russell led the Jumbos with 26 points and Mustafaj scored 17 points. After Tufts had gotten out a big lead early, the Panthers would take a lead with less than two minutes before halftime, but Joelle Zelony knocked out a huge three-pointer as time expired to give the Jumbos the lead back. In the final quarter Tufts would go on a 9-0 run that would give them the lead for good.
The other semifinal matchup features the No. 2 seed Williams College Ephs squaring off with the No. 3 seed Trinity College Bantams. In their previous matchup Williams defeated Trinity 49-48 after being outscoring 16-4 in the first quarter. Sophomore forward Arianna Gerig led the way for the Ephs scoring 19 points including 13 in the final frame shooting 8-10 from the free throw line and knocking down a three-pointer.
Williams defeated No. 7 seed Bates College in their NESCAC quarterfinal matchup in Williamstown, MA, 62-55. The Ephs had three players score double-digit points as senior froward Maddy Mandyck added 12 rebounds. Mandyck leads the conference in block per game averaging 3.2 along with being 2nd in steals with an average of 2.3 per game.
Trinity is ranked No. 16 in the country and enter the NESCAC tournament as the No. 3 seed. The Bantams defeated Amherst in their NESCAC quarterfinal matchup, 58-57. Trinity used a 15-4 advantage in the 3rd quarter to build a lead that would hold onto in the final seconds. After an Amherst timeout with 23 seconds left, they decided to wind the clock all the way down and a jumper at the buzzer missed and Trinity grabbed the rebound to secure the win.
Junior Reilly Campbell leads the Bantams scoring 16.5 points and is No. 4 scorer in the conference. She leads NESCAC in rebounding averaging 11.2 rebounds and field goal percentage, shooting about 58% from the field. The defense for Trinity gives up the fewest points and opponents against them only shoot 32.7% from the field.
Action starts at Cousens Gymnasium at 2 p.m. Saturday for the No. 1 seed Tufts against No. 4 seed Middlebury. The next semifinal game between No. 2 seed Williams and No. 3 seed Trinity is scheduled to start at 4:30 PM or 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first semifinal game. If Tufts were to advance, the Jumbos would play Sunday in the NESCAC Championship game against the winner of Williams and Trinity at 12:00 p.m.
--JUMBOS--
