WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.—At the end of futility-filled second half, the Williams women's basketball team suddenly roared to life against No. 5 Tufts. Ellen Cook found a dry spot for the first time all day and drilled a three. Katie Litman blocked a shot. Amanni Fernandez threaded a pass to Kellie Macdonald, who caught the ball in stride and converted a layup.

In a flash, Williams led, 48-47 with 1:17 left in the game. The comeback was complete.

Then, agonizingly, it wasn't. A clutch sequence of free throw shooting and rebounding propelled the first-place Jumbos (21-1, 8-0 NESCAC) to a tense 54-50 victory over the No. 25 Ephs. Tufts has now beaten the Ephs in four straight years and has won 13 in a row overall, with their last loss coming to No. 14 Scranton on December 28. "Tufts is a tremendous team," said Williams coach Pat Manning after the game.

They won even though the Ephs (17-5, 5-3 NESCAC) manage to limit the Jumbos' robust offensive attack, which entered play this weekend averaging nearly 68 points per game, to just 16 in the first half. That allowed the Ephs, themselves dealing with shooting woes in the period, to take a seven-point lead into the halftime break, giving their fans hope that they could pull off an upset on Senior Day.

After being honored along with Cook in a pregame ceremony, Macdonald carried the Ephs through the first half, scoring 11 of their 23 points. At times, the Jumbos' appeared to be daring Macdonald to beat them, choosing instead to guard against the Ephs' dangerous perimeter shooters and follow Cook's every move. For the most part, Macdonald made them pay, getting to the rim and hitting the occasional mid-range jumper.

It was a similar story for Tufts, only the Jumbos struggled even more with their inside game than the Ephs did. Save for one play when Hayley Kanner tossed a beautiful two-handed feed to Michaela North under the rim for an easy lay-in, the Jumbos' two leading scorers were held in check for virtually the entire half. "[Tufts has] a major post presence," commented Manning, who was happy that the Ephs were, "able to do what we did inside and for the most part frustrate them in the paint."

The second half, though, was a different story. The Jumbos began the period on an 18-3 run, reversing their early deficit and putting the Ephs in a deep hole. Lauren Dillon provided the exclamation point of what proved to be the game's decisive eight-minute stretch, pulling up for a three-pointer to make the score 32-26, then taking an outlet pass following a block from Kanner and driving all the way to the hoop for another bucket. All the while, the Ephs missed makeable shots and forced others, scoring just one field goal during Tufts' outburst.

The Ephs were not done, though. The heretofore heavily-guarded Cook began to make things happen all on her own, stealing a pair of Jumbos passes and scoring six points within 15 seconds, drawing Williams back to within two. Cook's second-half scoring—she picked up 13 of her 15 points in the game's final twelve minutes—pushed the game into its final phase, in which both teams ran the floor with authority, Tufts especially, but lacked the consistent finishing to resolve the final outcome. "They did a really good job [on Ellen], to not give her anything easy" said Manning. "She was able to use some screens and free herself a little bit."

After the Ephs regained the lead with 77 seconds left to play, Tufts called timeout. Not much changed after the break, except the Jumbos, who had missed four of their last six free throws to allow Williams to pull ahead, suddenly began making their foul shots. North, who played a strong second half and led all scorers with 16 points, made a pair of shots to put Tufts back in front. With the game on the line, Cook missed a three-pointer, then could only watch as the Jumbos ran the clock down to 13 seconds before Kanner drew a shooting foul. The Tufts' senior made the first shot and missed the second, but the Ephs' life was quelled when Hannah Foley grabbed the rebound, then made a pair of free throws of her own to put the game away. "We did have some chances late where things rolled in and out," said Manning on the game's final moments. "We had some open looks."

The Ephs conclude their conference schedule next weekend with a pair of road games, beginning with a critical Friday night visit to Connecticut College. The Camels are currently tied with the Ephs for fourth place in the conference, and the game could well determine which team gets home court advantage in the first round of the NESCAC playoffs. Tip off is at 7pm.