Box Score Box Score
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Liz Moynihan scored 14 points to lead the Tufts University women's basketball team to the championship over Rensselaer in the Hampton Inn West Springfield/Naismith Classic at Springfield College's Blake Arena. The Jumbos improve to 8-1, while the Engineers fall to 4-7.
RPI was led by junior
Sarah Wetmore (Sudbury, MA / Lincoln Sudbury Regional), who had 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds, and senior
Linda Larsen (Kobenhavn V., Denmark / Himmelev), who scored a team-best 14 points. They were both named to the All-Tournament Team.
Tufts did its damage tonight by spreading the wealth. Four players scored in double figures for the Jumbos. They were Moynihan, a freshman guard from Storrs, Conn., with 14; junior forward Kate Barnosky (Huntington Station, N.Y.) with 13 points; freshman forward Ali Rocchi (Fairfield, Conn.) with 12 points; and sophomore guard Collier Clegg (Evanston, Ill.) with 10. Sophomore forward Bre Dufault (Hampden, Mass.) added nine points.
Despite not being among the leading scorers tonight, senior guard Colleen Hart (Needham, Mass.) was named the tournament MVP for the Jumbos. Hart scored a game-high 14 points in Tufts' 45-29 victory over Keene State last night. Also making the all-tournament team from Tufts was junior guard Tiffany Kournegay (Carver, Mass.), who scored five points, but added a game-high 11 rebounds tonight.
Making the all-tournament team from RPI were Larsen and Wetmore. The final two members of the all-tournament team were Courtney Cirillo from Keene State and Kelly Murphy from Springfield.
After an initial bucket by Wetmore for RPI, Tufts took command thereon out. A three-pointer by Dufault gave the Jumbos the lead for good at 3-2 with 18:19 left in the first half. A lay-up by Rocchi, a jumper by Moynihan, and another jumper by Rocchi gave Tufts a 9-2 lead with 16:08 left, and the Jumbos were off to the races.
Tufts led by 13 on two occasions in the first half, at 36-23 and 38-25. A three-pointer by junior guard Laura Easterling (Ventura, Calif.) with three seconds left cut the lead to 38-28 at the half.
Tufts shot .533 (16-of-30) in that first half to take control. It also outrebounded the Engineers, 19-14.
In the second half, the lead grew to as many as 26 points at 63-37 with 9:43 to go on a 3-pointer by Moynihan. Tufts still led by as many as 24 points with 1:31 left (78-54) on a 3-pointer by Dufault.
Tufts wound up shooting .508 from the field for the contest. It made an outstanding 11-of-16 from three-point range (.688).
