Women's basketball upsets Tufts before losing to Bates in NESCAC game play

The injury had a profound effect on the outcome of the Bates game, causing the Jeffs to collapse in the second half. The beginning of the game was relatively even, and midway through the first half, Amherst began to take control. With just under six minutes to play in the half, Bozorg made a short jumper and gave Amherst their largest lead of the game at 27-18. This lead however, was short-lived, as the Bobcats went on a 18-2 run to open the second half. Due to a combination of Bozorg’s injury and the Bobcats’ league-leading defense, the Jeffs could not recover and lost by 15 points.

In contrast to the Bates match-up, Friday’s game versus Tufts saw Amherst establish a first-half lead and never relinquish it. Tufts came into the match with a 13-2 record, but Amherst prevailed, snapping their losing streak. The Jeff defense was particularly tough at the beginning of the game, shutting out Tufts for the first seven minutes. The Jeffs took a commanding 39-20 lead into halftime and never allowed the Jumbos to close the gap. Shannon Russell ’04, the team’s leading scorer, contributed 17 points, and center Caitlin Farrell ’04 added 14 points and 11 rebounds. The Jeffs dominated the Jumbos, 63-40, in front of a large home crowd.

Amherst will try to pull together when they play Clark and Trinity Colleges, tomorrow and Feb. 8, respectively. The team believes that they can overcome Bozorg’s injury and be successful. “If we can put two good halves together we’ll handle them fine,” said Russell. “We can’t just show up and expect to win; obviously that hasn’t been working.”