Courtesy Tufts Sports Information

Box Score

MEDFORD, Mass. - The Tufts University women's basketball team advanced to the semi-final round of the 2007 NESCAC Tournament with a 65-50 victory over Middlebury College in the first round on Saturday afternoon at Cousens Gymnasium. Senior tri-captain Laura Jasinski (Leverett, Mass.) led Tufts with 17 points, nine rebounds and four steals.

The Jumbos (17-7), the #2 seed in the tournament, will travel to top seed Bowdoin College for the semi-final round next Saturday (Feb. 24). Tufts will play #3 seed Bates College, a 63-53 winner over Amherst in the first round. Middlebury's season ended with a 12-13 record. The Panthers were led on Saturday by 13 points, nine rebounds and five steals from sophomore guard Emily Johnson (Lower Gwynedd, Pa.).

The final 15-point margin was the largest of the game. Though the Jumbos held the lead for all except three possessions, they couldn't quite put the Panthers away with a run. Finally at the end of the game, the Jumbos scored the last nine points to turn a 56-50 margin at 4:18 of the second half into the 65-50 final.

Both teams were sloppy in the early going. With the game tied 13-13 at the 9:27 mark, Tufts surged to a 25-18 advantage on a lay-up by Jasinski at the 4:28 mark. A three-pointer by Johnson with 10 seconds left until halftime pulled Middlebury within three (31-28), but Jumbo junior Khalilah Ummah (Litchfield, Maine) scored on a lay-up with less than a second left and Tufts led 33-28 at the break.

Into the second half, another lay-up by Ummah put Tufts up by eight, 42-34, at 15:07. Middlebury cut the margin to four on a pair of free throws by Lani Young (Concord, N.H.) at 12:46 to make it 42-38. The Jumbos then scored the next seven points, five by Jasinski, to lead by 11 (49-38) with 10:10 to play in the second half. That would give them a cushion heading down the stretch, and they put the game away with the closing spurt.

The win is the first in NESCAC Tournament for Tufts, who had lost their previous five first-round games. Four Jumbos scored in double figures, with Krah adding 16, Ummah 15 and junior Jenna Gomez (Norfolk, Mass.) 10 to go with seven rebounds and three steals. Senior Taryn Miller-Stevens (Avon, Mass.) had seven assists. The Jumbos have won 10 of their last 12 overall.

Young finished with 11 points and seven rebounds for Middlebury, which shot just 28.1 percent from the floor (16/57). Sophomore Aylie Baker (Yarmouth, Maine) added six points, six rebounds and two blocks for the visitors.