MEDFORD, MA (March 10, 2023) – The Tufts University women's basketball team picked up the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 victory Friday evening, topping Trinity University (TX), 65-52, in play from the Cousens Gymnasium. Tufts used a huge double-double by junior
Maggie Russell, who tallied 32 points and 21 rebounds while adding six steals and playing stellar defense.
The Tigers raced out to an early six-point lead behind the play of Maggie Robbins, as she scored six points in just over two minutes.
Sofia Gonzalez kept the Jumbos within striking distance as she knocked down three three-pointers in the quarter. Trinity kept their foot on the gas as they would shoot 60 percent from behind the three-point line in the quarter and had a five-point lead as the final seconds ticked down until
Annika Decker grabbed an offensive rebound and used the backboard to connect on a jumper at the buzzer to cut the lead to three.
In the second quarter, the Tigers continued to keep its lead at five until the final two and a half minutes of the quarter when the lead would change four different times. It started with Decker making a layup before A'nnika Saenz responded with a layup of her own to give the Tigers a one-point lead.
Samantha Sousa was then fouled on a layup and stepped up hitting two free throws. After missed shots on both sides, it was the Tigers turn to score at the buzzer as Natalie Anderson grabbed the offensive rebound off a missed three-pointer and her put back before halftime gave Trinity a 34-33 lead going into the break.
Coming out of halftime it was the
Maggie Russell show in the third quarter as she scored 11 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and had two steals in the quarter. She scored the first seven points for the Jumbos in the quarter as she helped Tufts regain the lead. The Tigers wouldn't go away though as they hit two three-pointers by Addison Putnam and Josie Napoli to tie the game. Russell would give the Jumbos their biggest lead to that point with 46 seconds left as she knocked down two free throws to open a 47-42 lead. The Jumbos held Trinity to 27 percent shooting from the field in the quarter as they started to make things difficult for the Tigers.
Tufts put the game away in the fourth quarter as they held Trinity scoreless for the first eight minutes of the quarter. During that same time, the Jumbos would go on a 10-0 run that pushed their lead all the way up to 12. Russell and
Joelle Zelony scored eight of the 10 points. In the fourth quarter, the Jumbos we able to seal the game at the free-throw line as they shot 12-16 (75 percent). The defense also picked up for the Jumbos as they held Trinity to just 17 percent shooting from the field in the quarter.
With the win, Tufts (24-6) has won their 12th game in a row and is now 8-3 in NCAA Sweet 16 games. Tufts now also has 40 NCAA Tournament victories and have accumulated a 40-14 record in the NCAA Tournament. The Jumbos shot 34.6 percent from the floor Saturday afternoon, while going 25-of-31 (80.6 percent) from the free-throw line. Russell led the Jumbos with her double-double, going 9-of-19 from the floor while making 14-of-17 from the free throw line. Gonzalez added nine points while
Hannah Kelly scored seven points off the bench.
Trinity (TX) (28-2) was led by Napoli who scored 16 points while Milton added nine points. As a team the Tigers shot 42.9 percent (9-21) from behind the three point line and scored 13 points off turnovers.
Tufts will now compete in the NCAA Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time in program history. They will square off with No. 1 Christopher Newport University, who defeated Wartburg today 60-51, Saturday evening at Cousens Gymnasium at 7:00 PM for a spot in the NCAA Semifinals next Saturday in Hartford, CT.
--JUMBOS--
