The Colorado College women's basketball team closed out their east coast road trip on Tuesday against No. 4 Tufts University. The Tigers ultimately fell to the Jumbos 74-54 as they now plan to host the Colorado College Thanksgiving Classic this weekend.
CC and Tufts were evenly matched in the first quarter, as the Tigers were down only by two heading into the second quarter. They continued to fight, and it was only a 29-26 deficit at the halftime break.
It was the third quarter where the Jumbos started to pull ahead as they outscored the Tigers 24-14 in the third. CC's attempted comeback fell short in the fourth quarter, and they will head into their following slate of games with a 2-2 record. It will be the most arduous road trip the Tigers see all year, seeing the country's No. 2 and No. 4 teams in back-to-back games.
"Tonight concluded a challenging and incredibly worthwhile road trip for our squad, head coach
Katherine Auguste said. "The first half of play in our game was exactly what this squad is capable of. Led by
Audrey Bayston, we worked for and capitalized on 12 offensive rebounds in the opening two periods."
Zoe Tomlinson and
Audrey Bayston led the way against the Tufts; both put up double-doubles, with Tomlinson scoring a team-high 16 points and ten boards. Bayston swiped a team-high 13 rebounds to go nicely with her 11 points.
Tomlinson continues to have a stellar start to her junior campaign; she now has four double-doubles in four games. The New York native put up a season-high 17 points and 16 boards against New York University on Saturday.
CC got off to a slow start scoring-wise and had trouble catching up as the game continued. The Tigers shot only 23.3 percent from the floor in the first quarter and ended the game with a 31.3 team shooting percentage. The defense did spectacularly in the first quarter, holding the Jumbos to 27.8 percent from the field, but a combined 46.5 percent second-half effort was too much to overcome.
The Tigers did prevail on the boards, outrebounded the Jumbos 42-38, and saw 17 second-chance points come from the effort.
Freshman
Rose Koehler put up a career-high six rebounds on Tuesday on top of adding four points off the bench. The Tigers had 16 total bench points compared to Tufts' 19.
"I was proud of the fight and togetherness our team showed," Auguste said. We will certainly grow from having had the opportunity to face two top teams in the nation as we continue down the path of becoming the strongest team we can for SCAC and post-season play."
The Tigers will return home to Reid Arena on Friday, Nov. 24, as they host Illinois Tech at 1 p.m. to kick off the 2023 Colorado College Thanksgiving Classic.
