“She’s just a really tough kid. If she has injuries you never know about it. She’s just one of the tougher players that I ever coached—no issues, it’s all just about playing the game.”

But while her playing time remained a constant, Tubridy was forced to make some adjustments to her game in order to accommodate the burgeoning success of Peljto and Cserny.

“I just thank God Reka is a third-year because it gave me a chance to get my career started,” Tubridy says. “I used to be a much bigger offensive force than I am now. When Reka came in the changes flowed naturally. I had to become more of a perimeter player. Kathy never sat me down and says ‘you’re not going to get as many shots,’ but it was an easy transition while we were winning.”

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS

It’s refreshing to see an athlete as humble as Tubridy, but despite her deferential nature her career statistics make a case for a standout who has been far more than just a role player on a dominant Crimson squad.

For starters, Tubridy is the only women’s hoopster in Harvard’s history to notch a triple-double. The feat came last season in a matchup with Brown. But to hear Tubridy tell the story, it seems like just another day at the gym.

“All the points came in the first five minutes,” Tubridy recalls, “and I know the offenses well so the assists come easy. On this team I see the court really well, and it’s pretty easy to tell when people are going to cut and where they are going to be. And I just love to rebound, especially on offense.”

Any player would love to rebound if she did it as well as Tubridy. Despite limited action down low, she averages 5.3 boards this season, and was second on the team with 7.2 during her junior campaign.

In many ways, though, Tricia Tubridy has been a surprise to the coaches who recruited her. Changing positions in Division I is no small task, but Tubridy handled the transition with relative ease.

“I was quite surprised that she became such an accurate shooter, and that was definitely not in the scouting report coming out of high school,” notes Delaney-Smith.

The coaches knew little of Tubridy’s shooting touch for good reason.

“I had never even hit a three in my high school career,” Tubridy laughs. “But I came in and the coaches says ‘All of our guards shoot threes, so start shooting.’ So I took some extra shoot-arounds and worked on it and figured out that I really liked to do it.”

Liked it, and excelled at it. As a junior, her 38.2 percent shooting from behind the arc was good for fourth in the Ivies, and although her percentage has dipped to around 30 percent this season, Tubridy remains a formidable threat from the outside.

FOR LOVE OF THE GAME

So what will Tubridy leave behind as her final collegiate season comes to a close—besides of course X rebounds, Y points and Z assists?