WALTHAM, Mass. - Three different Tufts University starters recorded double-double performances today and the visiting Jumbos snapped the 15-game regular-season non-conference winning streak of the Brandeis University women's basketball team with a 60-50 victory in Red Auerbach Arena. With their first loss of the season, the Judges, ranked ninth in Division III, fall to 5-1, while Tufts improves to 3-1 on the campaign.
The Jumbos were paced by their starting frontcourt, which outscored Brandeis's by a 32-8 margin and outrebounded them, 26-13. Senior Julia Baily (Farmington, Conn./Miss Porter's School) led all players with 20 points and 15 rebounds, while sophomore Kate Barnosky (Huntington Station, N.Y./Whitman) added 12 points and 11 boards. Junior guard Colleen Hart (Needham, Mass./Needham) also had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds while playing all 40 minutes. The Jumbos were also able to take care of the ball, committing just nine turnovers while forcing 21 and turning that into a 21-0 advantage in points off miscues.
Brandeis was paced by senior guard Jessica Chapin (Mendon, N.Y./Honeoye Falls-Lima), who fell one rebound shy of a double-double of her own with 13 points and nine caroms, both team-highs. Junior guard Diana Cincotta (Plymouth, Mass./W. Boylston) added 11 points of the bench, but no other Brandeis player was able to score more than six. The Judges had a deep bench, outscoring Tufts reserves, 23-0, but the hosts were unable to overcome 30.6 percent shooting (19-62), despite holding the Jumbos to 30 percent (21-70), including just one-of-19 on 3-pointers. The loss was Brandeis's first to a non-conference foe in the regular season since falling to the Jumbos at home on Nov. 25, 2007.
Tufts never trailed in the game, scoring the first two buckets. They led by as many as seven points on two occasions in the first half, but two late free throws by the Judges' Amber Strodthoff (DePere, Wisc./DePere) cut the lead to five at the break, 28-23, Baily had eight points and seven boards in the first half, while Cincotta had eight of her 11 before intermission.
A mini run by Brandeis to start the second half got the deficit to three points at 30-27 on a Morgan Kendrew (Cotuit, Mass./Barnstable) lay-up just over three-and-a-half minutes in. The Judges got a stop on the next possession, but Kendrew's 3-point shot to tie the game was off the mark. Barnosky answered with a trifecta of her own for a six-point swing and give momentum back to the Jumbos, who embarked on a 12-2 run over the next four minutes to take a 42-29 lead. Still trailing by 11 at 49-38 with 4:47 left after two Hart free throws, Brandeis scored eight of the game's next 10 points. They clawed to within 51-46 on Lauren Rashford's (Whitesboro, N.Y./Whitesboro) trifecta with 1:03 remaining, but Tufts converted eight straight foul shots to salt the game away.
Brandeis is next in action on Tuesday evening at Emmanuel College at 7 p.m., while Tufts plays their home opener against Salem State at the same time.