Tufts Jumbos jump over Panthers

Author: Andrew Donnantuono

The women's basketball team was eliminated from the NESCAC Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 17, when it lost at Tufts 65-50. It was a tough end of the season for the Panthers, who lost nine of their final 12 games to finish with a 12-13 record.

Against the Jumbos, though, the Panthers did not go down without a fight. Middlebury was looking for revenge, as Tufts had already treated them to a 61-50 loss on Feb. 2. The Jumbos held a slight advantage during the first half, but led Middlebury by no more than seven points over the first twenty minutes of play. Emily Johnson '09 did her best to give the team a spark as the game headed towards intermission, when she drained a three-pointer with ten seconds remaining to get Middlebury within three at 31-28. However, Tufts maintained its composure as Junior super sub Khalilah Ummah (15 points, six rebounds) laid it in to beat the buzzer.

While the Jumbos made a tidy 16 of 32 on the afternoon, the Panthers hit eight of their 26 shots for a 30.8 percent clip - slightly lower than their 35.6 percent season average. Nevertheless, Ashley Barron '09 asserted that she and her teammates were unfazed by a poor start from the field because although they are, "a team that only shoots 30 percent quite a bit, we don't let that bother us. Our tenacious defense makes up for it on the other end." Tenacious they were: Middlebury managed nine steals - five thanks to Johnson - and they matched Tufts' 39 total rebounds.

Maybe the Panthers would have felt better about their position had they been down just three at halftime, but Ummah's shot hardly proved debilitating. The second half never got away from Middlebury, yet the Panthers failed to pose a legitimate threat to the second-seeded Jumbos. Middlebury was down by as few as four points with 12:46 remaining and as many as 11 points with 10:10 remaining. From that moment forward Middlebury did their best to turn the tide, but Tufts had too many offensive weapons and too much defensive prowess. The game fizzled away, and Barron contended that even though the Panthers, "had the game within five points for 35 minutes," they had little choice but "to foul in the end, giving up a bunch of easy points on free throws." It did not help that Middlebury missed its last ten shots from the field.

Against Tufts, Middlebury was inferior in nearly every statistical category. The Jumbos made more shots (26 to 16), had more steals (12 to nine) and more blocks (six to three) and committed fewer turnovers (15 to 19). Senior Laura Jasinski was great for the Jumbos, leading them in points (17), minutes (34), rebounds (nine) and steals (four). For the Panthers, Johnson played all forty minutes, setting the pace with 13 points and nine rebounds.

Middlebury is looking at the loss in a positive light. While Barron said that a quarterfinal defeat was not what Middlebury had hoped for, she felt that if the Panthers, "come back next year with the same level of improvement we had over last season, we'll be hosting our own playoff game in Pepin Gymnasium." With all five of its starters to return for the '07-'08 campaign and a first-year class that showed signs of promise, Middlebury has good reason to be optimistic about the future of its women's basketball team.

"There will be some great leadership coming from the three juniors who will be returning as seniors next year," said Co-Captain Carlie Harrington '07. "The sophomore class has a lot of talent and is only going to get better."