MEDFORD, MA (February 26, 2023) -- The Tufts University women's basketball team captured its fourth New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) title in program history on Sunday afternoon, stifling third-seed and No. 16 Trinity College defensively to earn a 57-38 victory in play from Cousens Gymnasium.
With the victory, Tufts (21-6) will play in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, with opponents, times and locations to be announced during the NCAA Selection Show Monday, February 27 at 2:30 p.m. EST on NCAA.com.
The Jumbos added to their NESCAC title collection on Sunday, as the victory was the first since 2019 for Tufts while marking the first in the tenure of head coach
Jill Pace. It was the 11th appearance in the title game for Tufts, and the Jumbos have made it to the conference final in eight of the last nine season.
The story of the game was Tufts' ability to force outside shot attempts while limiting the touches inside for Trinity star forward Reilly Campbell. On the other end, Tufts was able to get the Bantam forwards into foul trouble as Campbell and Samantha Slofkiss quickly picked up a pair of fouls in the first half.
Tufts scored six of the game's first eight points, and finished the opening stanza on an 8-2 run to take a 19-11 lead on a triple from
Sofia Gonzalez with 10 seconds to go in the quarter. Trinity's Hannah Marzo came right back though with a driving jumper just before the buzzer to make it a 19-13 contest going to the second. Trinity would make it a six-point game with 6:45 to go in the half on an Emma Wax layup, but Tufts from that point would clamp down.
The Jumbos held Trinity to three points over the next five minutes, as Tufts went on a 13-3 run to take a 16-point lead with 2:15 left in the half on a lay-up by
Callie O'Brien. Tufts ended up leading by 13 at the break, with Trinity shooting 17 percent in the second stanza. In the third quarter, Tufts pushed its edge up to as much as 17 points early on, but the Bantams wouldn't go away as they went on a 10-0 run fueled by five points from Marzo to make it 38-31 with 4:36 remaining in the frame.
Tufts would take a nine-point lead into the fourth quarter, and drilled three three-pointers in the opening three minutes of the final quarter to push the lead back up to 16. The spurt was a 9-2 run for Tufts, as Gonzalez nailed a pair of trifectas around a
Hannah Kelly triple. That would be plenty of offense for Tufts, with Trinity scoring just one field goal over the final eight minutes of action as the Jumbos would celebrate in front of their home fans.
Junior
Maggie Russell struggled from the field but still picked up her 13th double-double of the season with 16 points, 14 rebounds and five assists. Gonzalez tallied 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting, going 3-of-5 from deep, and O'Brien finished with seven points and three boards. Kelly came off the bench to give Tufts great minutes, scoring eight points while hitting three of her four field goals including both three-pointers.
Tufts shot 20-of-50 (40 percent) for the game, while making a very strong 45.7 percent from behind the three-point arc (7-15). Tufts has won nine straight games as well, with its last loss coming back on January 23 at Smith College.
Defensively the Jumbos forced the Bantams into 28.8 percent shooting, the lowest shooting clip in a game this season for Trinity. Marzo finished with a team-high 11 points, adding five boards, while Wax, Campbell and Theresa Twardosky all posted five points. Sunday was Trinity's first-ever trip to the NESCAC title game, but assuredly will earn a Pool C bid to the NCAA Tournament thanks to its strong 21-5 record and No. 2 regional ranking.
Check back at gotuftsjumbos.com Monday to see where and when Tufts will be playing in the NCAA Tournament this upcoming weekend.
--JUMBOS--
