Monday, February 14, 2005

LOVE HAS HER DAY AS NESCAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK

MEDFORD – It's much more than a coincidence that Tufts University senior co-captain Allison Love (Duxbury, MA/Duxbury) was named the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Player of the Week on Valentine's Day. It's for her 20.7 points per game and 60.0 percent shooting in three Tufts victories last week.

Love, playing the final games of her career, produced her best basketball of the season in leading Tufts to a 3-0 week. It started with a good 65-60 non-league win over Salve Regina on Tuesday (Feb. 8), continued to a 76-53 victory at Trinity on Friday (Feb. 11) and finished with a 76-67 win at Amherst on Saturday (Feb. 12). Love added 7.3 rebounds per game and seven assists to the 27 for 45 shooting performance for the week (3/6 3-pointers, 5/5 free throws).

After giving 20 points, nine rebounds and four assists to the win over Salve, Love led the Jumbos at Trinity with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Tufts essentially clinched a berth into the conference tournament with this victory. They didn't know that heading into the Amherst game, so Love (22 points) and her mates made sure of it as Tufts finished the regular season at 14-9 overall and 3-6 in NESCAC.

The Jumbos earned the seventh seed in the NESCAC Tournament. They open first round play on Saturday (Feb. 19) at Bates College, the #1 team in the nation. The Bobcats are the NESCAC's #2 seed due to a conference loss to NESCAC #1 Bowdoin College. Bates defeated the Polar Bears when the teams met again in a non-conference game. Tufts gave Bates a good game in a 76-66 loss on February 5.

Heading into the playoffs, Love leads the Jumbos with 12.4 points per game. She's also tops with 53 offensive rebounds and 130 total rebounds. She's 10^th in NESCAC in scoring and in field goal percentage (.459). She was a two-time Player of the Week recipient last year.

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