MEDFORD, Mass. -- Junior Hayley Kanner recorded 13 points, seven rebounds, seven blocks, three assists and three steals for an impressive performance that led No. 8 Tufts to a 73-56 victory against Fitchburg State on Thursday night at Cousens Gym.
The win was the seventh consecutive to start the season for Tufts (7-0), which was led in scoring by sophomore Emma Roberson's 14 points. Junior Hannah Foley chipped in 10 points with eight rebounds for the Jumbos.
Fitchburg fell to 3-3 with the loss. Senior Amy Fahey tied for the game high with 14 points, shooting 6 for 11 and adding five rebounds. Brittney Payne finished with 12 points and three steals for the Falcons.
Tufts senior Liz Moynihan drained a straight-on three at the halftime buzzer to lift Tufts to a 15-point margin (40-25) at intermission. The Jumbos spread the scoring around in the first half with eight from Roberson and Kanner and seven by Foley.
Tufts maintained a comfortable margin in the second half. The Falcons were within 15 (42-27) following Payne's jumper at the 16:43 mark. Threes by Moynihan and Foley helped Tufts score eight of the next nine points to push their advantage to 22 at 50-28 with 14:53 on the clock.
Liz Moynihan added eight points, six rebounds and three assists to the Tufts win. The Jumbos finished with 25 offensive rebounds, led by Kanner's six. They won the battle of the boards 43-37 overall. Tufts had 16 steals on 23 Falcon turnovers. Kanner is now averaging 3.3 blocks per game.
No. 4 Amherst 58, Eastern Connecticut State 44
WILLIMANTIC, Conn. -- Megan Robertson and Hannah Peterson rallied a 6-0 Jeff run in the final minutes as Amherst pulled away with a 58-44 victory against Eastern Connecticut State in a non-conference game Thursday night at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
No. 4 Amherst (6-0) never trailed after the opening bucket but Eastern (4-3) whittled an 18-point first-half deficit to six early in the second half and only trailed by eight before Robertson hit a free throw, then grabbed an offensive rebound and swished a jumper to make it 51-40 with just five minutes left. Robertson then rebounded an Eastern miss and Amherst grabbed consecutive offensive rebounds on the other end, one by Robertson, to set up Peterson's three-point field goal that pushed the Amherst lead to 14 with the score 54-40 with four minutes left.
Eastern junior guard Danyelle Rodriguez led the Warriors with a season-high 14 points off the bench but was the team's only double-figure scorer. She was 6-for-8 from the floor and connected on two of the team's three 3-pointers (on 12 attempts).
