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| Caitlin McClure and her Tufts
teammates have the importance of defense drilled into them from the
start of each season. Tufts University photo by Kelvin Ma |
By Brian Lester
D3sports.com
Tufts coach Carla Berube has always put a high emphasis on defense because of her background as a basketball player.
Berube played at Connecticut and won a national championship with the Huskies in 1995.
As a coach at Tufts, which has steadily risen as a program under her direction, she has preached the importance of defense to her players.
“Defense is something we always work on, and I am always preaching the importance of it to the players,” Berube said. “I’m a product of my environment and have always been taught that defense wins championships. Our players have bought into it.”
And there is no question that a tremendous effort on defense has paid off.
The Jumbos are allowing only 48.9 points per game and their defensive effort has helped propel the Tufts to the final four this weekend in Stevens Point, Wis. It is the first Final Four appearance in program history for the Jumbos, who take on FDU-Fordham in a 6 p.m. national semifinal on Friday night.
While Berube can teach her team to play great defense, she can’t truly prepare them for what it will be like to play in a championship event. What she can tell them, however, is to enjoy the moment.
“You can’t tell them what it’s like to play in that kind of atmosphere,” Berube said. “They have to experience it for themselves. But I tell them that once the ball is tipped into the air, it’s just another game. We have an experienced group that has been to the tournament before and it’s important to keep everything in perspective as we get ready to play.”
But back to the defense. That is where it all starts for Tufts, which never allowed more than 59 points in any of its four NCAA tournament games. It punched its ticket to the final four with a 61-59 win over Ithaca and has allowed 60 or more only once this year.
Junior guard Hannah Foley has been an integral part of the defensive success. She leads the team in steals with 45 and is second on the team in scoring at 10.1 points per game.
“We play with a lot of energy and we do a good job of communicating during games,” Foley said. “We all know what we have to do to be successful in defending an opponent and we know that playing great on defense is something that puts us in a position to win games.
Foley worked hard in the offseason to make herself a better defensive player. She said it has made a difference in the way she plays night in and night out.
“I wanted to be more of a vocal leader this year,” Foley said. “I feel like I’ve done a better job of doing that and I’m playing much better defense this season. I take a lot of pride in being a good defensive player.”
Foley is one of eight players who have tallied 15 or more steals. Kelsey Morehead has racked up 39 and Liz Moynihan has come through with 32 steals. Hayley Kanner has tallied 31 steals while Michela North and Caitlin McClure have come up with 24 steals apiece.
“We’ve matured over the course of the year on defense and a lot of different players have stepped up,” Berube said. “The players do a great job of communicating and playing good help defense. And our ability to play well on defense has kept us in a lot of games.”
Tufts, which is 30-1 and has won nine consecutive games, has also used its stellar defensive effort to create opportunities on offense.
The Jumbos are averaging 66.4 points per outing and Kanner leads the team in scoring at 12.7 ppg. North is averaging 9.4 per game while Moynihan and Morehead are averaging 7.9 and 7.8 points per outing, respectively.
“It always seems like our best shooting games are when we play our best on defense,” Foley said. “We create a lot of easy shots and play with more energy on offense when we are playing well on defense.”
Berube is confident in her team as it prepares for its biggest weekend in program history, and said that while much more will be on the line at Stevens Point, the Jumbos have no need to change their style of play at this point.
“We have to stay true to who we are as a team,” Berube said. “We have to take care of the basketball, play good defense by keeping players in front of us and play together for 40 minutes. If we do those things, we’ll be successful.”
Foley is thrilled about the opportunity the Jumbos have in front of them and can’t wait to compete for a championship this weekend.
“We are so excited and we want to enjoy every moment of the experience,” Foley said. “We knew coming into the season that we had a good team, and as the season progressed, we saw what we were capable of accomplishing. We’ve never been this far before, but we will be ready to play.”