By: Zach Perbeck


NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Connecticut College women's basketball team fell to No. 7 Tufts on Saturday afternoon by a score of 78-45. This marked the final home game of the season for the Camels as they will finish out their schedule with two road contests next weekend.
 
Prior to the game, the Camels celebrated four deserving seniors for their contributions to the program. Guards Audrey Shaev (Scarsdale, N.Y.), Claire Gulbin (Wilton, Conn.), and Emily Tripp (Westport, Mass.) joined forward Emily O'Sullivan (North Reading, Mass.) at mid-court with their families for photos with the coaching staff and to receive framed jerseys to commemorate their time with the program.
 
The Camels fell behind early against the Jumbos and were unable to climb back into the game. After 33 seconds of scoreless basketball to start the game, Tufts jumped out to a quick 9-0 lead that would not be relinquished for the remainder of the contest. Connecticut College found themselves trailing by 15 at halftime and the remainder of the game held the same pace. Despite brief scoring runs for the Camels, including a six-point flurry in the third quarter in part due to a key three-pointer from Shaev, the Jumbo offense kept rolling and outpaced Connecticut College, as eleven different Tufts players scored on the day.
 
Freshman Tiffani Bartee (Midlothain, Va.) paced the Camels with 12 points, tying her season-high and marking her second consecutive double-digit scoring game. Shaev contributed eight points and three rebounds of her own while Tripp added six points and two rebounds. For Tufts, Sofia Rosa led the way with a game-high 16 points and Maggie Russell added 14 points and 10 rebounds in the winning effort.
 
Tufts was able to shoot over 52% from the field in all four quarters to end the game with a field goal percentage of 53.4%. The Jumbos also shot the ball well from deep, converting on 39.1% of their opportunities from behind the three-point line. On the other side of the ball, Tufts prevented the Camel offense from getting into any rhythm, holding the home team to just 29.8% shooting from the field and 27.3% from beyond the arc. The biggest battle was in the paint, where the Jumbos out-rebounded the Camels by a 48-22 margin and scored 34 points compared to 22 for Conn. The Jumbos shared the ball much better than the Camels as well, tallying 17 assists while Conn totaled just seven. Tufts did turn the ball over more often than Connecticut College, largely due to eight steals for the Camels. The Jumbos coughed the ball up 19 times while the Camels did so on 14 occasions. Free-throws once again did not go in favor of Connecticut College, with a 50% mark on the day falling short of the 77.8% mark set by Tufts.
 
Connecticut College (4-16, NESCAC 2-6) will return to action on Friday, February 11^th as they travel to Clinton, N.Y. to take on Hamilton before ending the regular season on Saturday, February 12^th at No. 11 Amherst.