At Medford
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
MEDFORD – The Tufts University Women's Basketball team opened its home schedule with a 51-point victory over Johnson & Wales University, 98-47, on Tuesday night at Cousens Gymnasium. Junior F Allison Love (Duxbury, MA) led the Jumbos with 20 points and nine rebounds.
Johnson & Wales scored the game's first basket, a jumper by freshman Nicole Milton (Windsor, CT) at 19:04 to lead 2-0. Tufts then ran off the next 17 points to lead 17-2 on a lay-up by senor tri-captain Maritsa Christoudias (Saddle River, NJ) at 15:49. From there, the rout was on.
The Jumbo lead grew to as much as 30 points in the first half, 41-11, after two free throws by Christoudias at 3:20. She had 10 points in the first half for Tufts, which was led by sophomore G Jessica Powers' (Massapequa, NY) 11 points in the first 20 minutes. Junior G Laci Lance (San Diego, CA) had eight points for the Wildcats.
The closest JWU would get was 22 points (47-25) after a lay-up by senior co-captain Socorro Cronan (Providence, RI) early in the second half. A lay-up by senior tri-captain Erin Buckley (East Sandwich, MA) at 3:56 of the second half pushed the Tufts margin over 40 to 85-44. It topped 50 on two free throws by freshman G Taryn Miller-Stevens (Avon, CT) with just eight seconds to go.
Tufts forced Johnson & Wales into 31 turnovers and just 29 percent shooting from the field (18/62). The hosts also won the battle of the boards in a big way, with 59 rebounds to the Wildcats' 32. Tufts finished with a 49.4 field goal percentage, including 60 percent (21/35) in the second half. The Jumbos had 21 steals.
Powers, who hit three three-pointers, finished with 17 points. Christoudias put 10 points, eight rebounds and four steals on the stat sheet. Sophomore G Julia Verplank (Zeeland, MI) was the fourth Jumbo to score in double-digits with 11 points to go with four steals.
The Wildcats were led by Lance, who was six for 11 from the field for 13 points. Junior Karen Thureson (New Britain, CT) ended the game with 10 points.
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