Teams: Women's Basketball: Schedule & Results

COLLEGE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL FINAL SCORE
NESCAC Tournament Quarterfinal
Tufts 71, Wesleyan (CT) 57

At Medford, MA
Saturday, February 21, 2009

Game Statistics

Colleen Hart scored 12 points and added seven assists and six rebounds

MEDFORD -- Four Jumbos scored in double figures as the 15th ranked Tufts University women's basketball team advanced to the semi-final round of the 2009 NESCAC Championship with a 71-57 victory against Wesleyan University on Saturday afternoon at Cousens Gymnasium.

Tufts, the #3 seed in the conference tournament, was able to keep the Cardinals at an arm's length in the first half before pulling away in the second. The Jumbos improved to 21-3 overall and move on to play next weekend at top seed Bowdoin College. Tufts will face #2 seed Amherst in the semis. Bowdoin will play #5 Trinity. Sixth seed Wesleyan's season ends with a 12-11 record.

Senior co-captain Kim Moynihan (West Hartford, CT) led Tufts with 14 points, while classmate Katie Tausanovitch (Lyme, NH) had a double-double with 12 points and 15 rebounds. Junior Julia Baily (Farmington, CT) finished with 11 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore point guard Colleen Hart (Needham, MA) had 12 points, seven assists and six rebounds. Tufts shot 56.3 percent (18/32) from the floor in the second half.

Senior Ali Fourney (East Northport, NY) had a game-high 16 points to lead Wesleyan and she also picked up three steals. Tri-captain Lucy Sprung (East Dover, VT) also had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore Erin Gold (New Hope, PA) had six of her eight points in the first half when the Cardinals kept it close.

Tausanovitch scored the first two baskets of the game, helping Tufts sprint to an early 11-2 advantage. They would never trail in the game. After Wesleyan cut the margin down to five at 17-12 following a lay-up by Fourney at 10:51, the Jumbos maintained a multiple-possession margin for the next few minutes. Tufts was up 24-16 on a jumper by junior Casey Sullivan (Berlin, CT) at the 8:30 mark. A 9-3 spell by Wesleyan brought the visitors within two points (27-25) on two free throws by sophomore guard McKinley Tennant (Swampscott, MA) with 2;02 on the clock. The Jumbos would score the only points of the final two minutes on a pair of free throws by Moynihan and a second-chance lay-up by first-year Rachel Figaro (Windham, NH).

With a 31-25 lead at intermission, Tufts was led by seven points from Moynihan and six points with six rebounds by Tausanovitch. Gold and Sprung, who had fives in points and rebounds for the first 20 minutes, paced the Cardinals. Tufts used a 25-17 advantage in rebounds to get more offensive opportunities in the half.

Moynihan drained a three to open the second half, igniting a 9-2 Tufts surge that gave the Jumbos a 40-27 lead with 16:36 on the clock. However, the Cardinals answered by scoring the next seven points to get within 40-34 on a lay-up by Fourney at 14:54. That would be as close as Wesleyan would get, but they were still within 10 at 50-40 following a Meredith Lowe (Philadelphia, PA) free throw with 8:18 remaining.

The Jumbos put the game away over the next four minutes. They out-scored the Cardinals 15-5 during that stretch, getting single baskets from seven different players. That produced a 20-point, 65-45 lead with 4:22 remaining. Sprung hit a three-pointer at the other end of the floor, but the Tufts lead was in the teens for the rest of the way.

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