WILLIAMSTOWN - Junior Hannah Foley scored a game-high 22 points and the Tufts University women's basketball team put Williams College in the rearview mirror with a second-half run leading to a 64-45 NESCAC victory on Saturday afternoon.
The Jumbos are now one win away from clinching the #1 seed in the upcoming conference championship tournament. Tufts improved to 21-0 overall and 8-0 in the league. After a non-league game against Babson on Tuesday, the Jumbos finish their conference schedule against Colby and Bowdoin next weekend (Feb. 14-15) at Cousens Gym.
In this week's national polls, Tufts is ranked #6 and Williams is #10 in the D3hoops.com rankings. In the USA Today coaches poll, the Jumbos are fifth and the Ephs are 10th.
For 25 minutes of Saturday's contest, the teams played equally. However a 22-4 Tufts advantage stretching from 17:38 of the second half to 8:30 put the game in the Jumbos' pocket. Six Tufts players contributed to the run, paced by six points from Foley.
This was the Ephs' first loss in seven games, bringing their record to 19-3 overall and 5-3 in the league.
Foley led overall in scoring for both teams with her 22, shooting 3 for 4 from behind the three-point line and 8 of 12 overall. Hayley Kanner was the only other Jumbo to score in double-digits with 12.
For the Ephs, Ellen Cook and Oge Uwanaka had 16 and 15 points respectively. Uwanaka would also grab 14 rebounds this afternoon.
The two teams found themselves deadlocked for the opening minutes of play, as neither team gained a lead greater than two until the 16:25 mark when Uwanaka sank two free throws to bring the score to 9-6 in Williams' favor.
The Ephs would not be able to extend this three-point lead by too much or for too long due to Tufts' aggressive defense and clutch shooting from beyond the three point line. Because of the pressure that both teams were utilizing defensively, both Tufts and Williams took their turns at the foul line. With three foul shots from Foley, Tufts battled back within two of Williams before the 11-minute mark, and then capitalized at the line again only moments later to bring the score to 23-21.
Despite being in foul trouble, Williams kept up the pressure defensively and forced a turnover just before Tufts could grab the lead for the first time in 11 minutes. With the score at 25-24, Eph Kellie Macdonald had the chance to extend the home team's lead at the foul line and sunk both of her free throws. However, shortly thereafter a three-pointer by Foley followed by a lay-up by Kanner put the Jumbos on top with just under five minutes to play in the half.
Tufts held on to their lead, managing to extend it to four when Kelsey Morehead threaded the needle to Michela North who had managed to back-door her defender. The Ephs would not score in the last five minutes of play, and the first half would close out with the score at 31-27 in the Jumbos' favor.
The leaders for the first half in scoring were Cook for the Ephs with eight points and Foley for the Jumbos with 13.
Early into the second half, the Jumbos grabbed the largest lead of the game when Foley netted a three-pointer to bring the score to 34-27. However, Williams found success at the foul line, battling back to within one point of Tufts with four free throws from Uwanaka and two from Cook.
Tufts came back with an 11-point run jump-started by a strong play in the paint by Kanner, bringing the score to 45-33. Cook responded by driving hard to the hoop, helping the Ephs avoid slipping too far behind the Jumbos. However, Tufts managed to extend their lead to 15 before the 10-minute mark.
Tufts continued to push the ball hard, finding open looks under the hoop and scoring off of unassisted drives. Foley would score a third of the Jumbos' points in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Williams went a seven-minute period without scoring, until just before the six-minute mark when Uwanaka grabbed a rebound and followed it up with strong lay-up.
With the score at 58-39 Tufts, Uwanaka would play her part in a Williams comeback effort, scoring the Ephs' next six points. However, with 1:26 remaining, Tufts led by almost 20 points, and could rest assure that they had the victory.
Tufts out-scored Williams 17-5 off the bench, with senior Liz Moynihan totaling nine and North finishing up with six points, seven rebounds and three blocks.
The Ephs next take on Connecticut College away at 6 pm on Friday.
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