MEDFORD, MA (March 5, 2023) -- The No. 21 Tufts University women's basketball team will serve as host for the second consecutive weekend Friday and Saturday, hosting the NCAA Division III Championship Sectional Round in Cousens Gymnasium.
The NCAA Division III Committee announced the hosts Sunday morning, as the Jumbos will join fellow Massachusetts schools Smith College and Babson College along with Transylvania University in Lexington, KY. The Jumbos will take on No. 5 Trinity University of Texas in the 7:30 p.m. game Friday, with No. 1 Christopher Newport University and No. 24 Wartburg College set for the 5:00 p.m. opener.
The winners of the two Friday games will meet Saturday at 7 p.m. for a spot in the NCAA semifinals March 18 at Trinity College in Hartford, CT. Tufts moved into the Sweet 16 this upcoming weekend after topping Merchant Marine Friday 72-57 before outlasting Skidmore College 59-50 Saturday.
For the Jumbos, its the 11th straight Sweet 16 appearance spanning from 2012 to 2023, with the lone exception coming in 2021 when the season was canceled due to CoVID-19. In 2020, Tufts moved to the Sweet 16 round, but the games were canceled because of the pandemic. The Jumbos first Sweet 16 appearance came in 2008, when they advanced to the Elite 8.
It will be the third time hosting a Sectional for the Jumbos this weekend, and the first since back-to-back seasons in 2014 and 2015. Tufts was slated to host in 2020 before the cancelation of the Championships.
The Jumbos are 7-3 all-time in the Sweet 16 round, and come into the weekend 39-14 in the NCAA all-time. The 39 wins rank eighth all-time in Division III, behind just Amherst, Bowdoin, Hope, Scranton, Southern Maine, St. Thomas (MN) and Washington University of St. Louis.
Tufts will take on No. 5 Trinity, which defeated Texas-Dallas 79-62 in the opening round before knocking off Hardin-Simmons University in the second round, 88-69. The Jumbos have never played Trinity of Texas prior to this weekend.
The Tigers, who won the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), are paced by Conference Player of the Year Ashlyn Milton. Fellow senior Maggie Shipley was also a SCAC First Team honoree, while Josie Napoli, Maggie Robbins and Addie Putnam were also All-SCAC performaers.
Milton averages 13.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game, shooting 41.1 percent from three-point land. Shipley also pours in 12.4 points per game, while Napoli and Putnam are each around 10 points per game. Robbins also posts 9.1 points, along with team-highs of 4.6 assists and a whopping 4.4 steals per game. It is the 13th appearance in the NCAA Tournament for the Tigers.
On the other side of the bracket, top-seed CNU comes to Medford after two solid wins in Newport News this past weekend. CNU advanced to the team's seventh consecutive Round of 16, joining Tufts as one of only five Division III programs to ever run a streak of at least seven straight. The Captains defeated Brooklyn College (89-52) in the opening round and Elizabethtown College (65-55) in the Round of 32.
The undefeated Captains are 28-0 this season and are one of only two teams left in the nation without a loss. Christopher Newport is now 61-1 since December 28, 2019 when CNU dropped a regular season contest to Tufts. The only loss in that stretch came against Trinity (Texas) in last year's Round of 16.
Wartburg (23-6) earned an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament and defeated No. 13 Baldwin-Wallace (57-43) in the first round before toppling defending national champion and No. 6 Hope (81-67) in the second round.
Ticket prices will be announced Monday, while all games will be broadcasted live by JumboCast at http://tuftsjumbocast.com.
--JUMBOS--
