Almost a week after Ali Fourney ’09 tied her career high with 29 points against Colby to give the Cardinals the #6 seed in the NESCAC Championship, the team traveled to play #3 Tufts this past Saturday. The two teams have a history: Wesleyan was eliminated by Tufts in last year’s NESCAC semifinals in the first-ever postseason meeting between the two teams, and the Jumbos won their fourth straight over Wesleyan earlier this season, 75-63.
The Cards came out slow, falling behind 11-2 almost immediately. But they fought back valiantly throughout the first half, shrinking the deficit to 27-25 on two free throws by guard McKinley Tennant ’10 with two minutes left. The teams went to the locker rooms at halftime with Tufts up 31-25, but Tufts continued in the second half where it had left off at the end of the first. Following Tennant’s free throws, the Jumbos went on a 13-2 run that lasted until the 16:36 mark in the second frame.
Fourney is not the leading career scorer in Wes women’s history for nothing, and she showed her skill in boldly trying to ignite a comeback. She capped a 7-0 Cardinal run with a steal and jumper with 15 minutes left that brought the deficit down to 6. That would be as close as the Cards would get the rest of the way, however. They trailed by as many as 20 en route to the 71-57 final, a respectable score against a powerful Tufts team that, just a year earlier, had competed in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Division III tournament, and is currently ranked 15th in Division III.
Fourney played her heart out, contributing 16 points and three steals. Lucy Sprung G’08 contributed 12 points and 10 rebounds, to go along with another three steals, for her third double-double of the season. The Cards were hurt by their poor shooting, as they connected on only 34.5 percent of their shots from the field and 65.2 percent from the free-throw line. Tufts shot 44.8 percent from the field and out-rebounded the Cardinals 45-38.
Despite the disappointment of a first-round playoff loss, the team finished this season with a winning record for the ninth straight year, at 12-11. Fourney attained the status of all-time Wes leading scorer, and her point total is now 1,496 after averaging 18.7 points a game this year. Fourney was more than a scorer; a great floor leader, she started every game, had more than three times as many steals as any other Cardinal, with 85, led the team in blocks, was second on the team in assists and was the team’s third leading rebounder. She was helped along by Sprung, who was the only other Cardinal to average double digits in points, with 14.4 per game, and was the leading rebounder at 6.5 per game.
Despite losing Fourney and Sprung next year, the future looks bright for the Cardinals. Those two are half of only four players who will be moving on, leaving the team in the hands of those they mentored, including two sophomore starters and seven freshmen. These returnees will look to provide coach Kate Mullen with her 10th straight winning season in 2009-10.
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