(Story Courtesy of Trinity Sports Information Department)
MEDFORD, Mass. – No. 4/5 Trinity University Women's Basketball fell at No. 18/21 Tufts University in its home Cousens Gymnasium Friday night, 65-52, ending the 2022-23 campaign in the third round of the 2023 NCAA III Women's Basketball Championship tournament.
The Tigers (28-2) fired out of the gate but had their offense slow in the second half, including an eight-minute scoreless drought to open the fourth quarter.
Sophomore Josie Napoli led Trinity with 16 points as the lone Tiger in double-digits. The Jumbos' (24-6) saw an all-time performance from their conference Player of the Year as Maggie Russell collected a 32-point, 21-rebound effort that featured a 14-for-17 mark from the free throw line as whistles echoed in the second half.
Trinity marked its first-ever repeat appearance in the NCAA III third round this season after the Tigers' made the 2022 NCAA III sectional at Amherst College (MA). The program's fifth overall three-round run into the NCAA III postseason is the third in the tenure of Head Coach Cameron Hill.
The Rundown
The Tigers twice logged a seven-point lead in the first 10 minutes before a last-second tip-in from Annika Decker brought the contest to one possession, 18-15 Trinity, at the end of the first. Junior Maggie Robbins posted seven points in the first period, getting to the line twice and finishing twice more on strong drives.
Senior Ashlyn Milton's second three pointer in the first 11 minutes put the margin back to two possessions, 23-18, after Tufts opened the quarter with a game-tying bomb of its own from Hannah Kelly.
The Jumbos tallied their first lead, 33-32, on an 8-2 run that featured a six-for-six mark from the free throw line and NESCAC Player of the Year Maggie Russell already in double-digits with 11 points. First-year Natalie Anderson put the Tigers back out front, 34-33, heading into the half on a last-second putback of her own.
Russell (11 points) and Gonzalez (nine points) were the game's top two scorers into intermission. Trinity had seven players contribute to the scoring column led by Robbins's seven from the first quarter as 11 Tigers saw the floor in the first 20 minutes.
Long-range strikes held down a determined Tufts squad on the other side of the half as Napoli and senior Addie Putnam each connected from outside to keep the contest tied, 40-40, near the midway point of the third. Meanwhile, Russell accounted for all seven second-half points for the Jumbos to that point for a line of 18 points, eight rebounds.
The contest shifted back and forth through the remainder of the third as Robbins, Putnam and Milton were all plagued with foul trouble while Russell accounted for 11 of Tufts's 14 points in the third period to keep the Jumbos out front, 47-45, into the fourth.
The well ran dry in the final period for the Tigers as they went 0-for-7 before the midway media break while Tufts added just four points in the first five minutes of the quarter. Napoli finally took the lid off the basket with 1:48 to go with her fourth three-pointer of the contest as Trinity went into the immediate timeout down, 57-48. Points traded with late stage fouling to the final, 65-52.