BRISTOL, RI (November 21, 2025) -- First-year guard
Tessa Lozner scored a career-high 21 points Friday evening, helping lead the Tufts University women's basketball team to a 68-57 come-from-behind win over host Roger Williams University action at the Roger Williams Student Recreation Center.
The 21 points for Lozner are the most for a first-year player for the Jumbos since last year when
Monet Witherspoon scored 23 points twice for the Jumbos. Lozner was 8-of-17 on the night, going 2-of-7 from behind the arc while adding three assists and five steals as well in the victory.
The Jumbos (3-1) were deadlocked at 10 midway through the opening period after a triple from sophomore
Claire Kolkhorst, but the Hawks pushed forward by nine on a 11-2 run to take a 21-13 edge into the second quarter. Tufts slowly crept back into the contest, trimming its halftime deficit to just one at 28-27 after a pair of freebies by
Stella Galanes with just under a minute left in the first half.
After intermission, Tufts regained its lead at 32-31 after a pair of free throws by first-year
Abby Congdon, but the teams would go back and forth with the lead the rest of the quarter before a bucket from Congdon with no time left on the clock in the third squared things up at 46 going to the fourth.
In the final stanza, RWU (4-2) led 50-49 with 7:34 to play in regulation but the Jumbos went on a three-point spree over the next two minutes as they nailed four of their next five triples to power a 12-0 run to take an 11-point edge at 61-50. The Jumbo lead got down to a two-possession game twice, but the Jumbos iced the contest at the free throw line to pick up its second straight victory.
Galanes had a season-high 16 points off the bench for the Jumbos, going 4-of-10 on field goals while hitting seven of her eight shots at the charity stripe. Kolkhorst continued to shoot the three extremely well this season, going 5-of-10 from deep for 15 points, and Congdon was efficient on 4-of-5 shooting while adding three boards, three assists and two steals.
Senior
Annie Aspesi led the Jumbos with seven rebounds, adding two steals and three assists, and
Siobhan Stapleton posted six caroms as well. Tufts finished 23-of-62 overall for the game, but in crunch time were 7-of-14 (50 percent) in the fourth quarter including a 5-of-10 shooting display in the final stanza from deep. On the other side, the Jumbos defense toughened up in the fourth, as the Hawks were just 2-of-11 in the frame (18.2 percent).
Tufts took advantage of 20 RWU turnovers, outscoring the Hawks 23-4 in points off giveaways. The Jumbos were also able to pull out the win despite being out-rebounded 49-29, as Sophia Coppola had a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds for Roger Williams.
The Jumbos will now turn their attention to their toughest task of the short season, as they head to Scranton, PA Sunday at 1 p.m. for a battle with the No. 2 Lady Royals of the University of Scranton. Scranton is the alma mater of first-year head coach
Meredith Mesaris, where she starred for the Lady Royals as the fourth all-time leading scorer in program history an a multiple All-American.
--JUMBOS--
