BOSTON — Northeastern has not played in many close games this season.
Prior to Sunday afternoon’s CAA home opener against UNCW, just one of their 11 games had been decided by single digits — a 63-61 loss to LIU on the first day of December. Their only win of the season came relatively comfortably, in a 15-point victory over Wagner.
So it was probably an unfamiliar feeling for the Huskies to be in a tie game, 48-48, halfway through the fourth quarter — and this lack of experience may have shown itself down the stretch.
Following a jumper by redshirt sophomore guard Abby Jegede to tie the game at 48, Northeastern failed to score a single point in the final five minutes of the game. The kicker is that UNCW didn’t make a field goal either over that stretch — only mustering up a single free throw by graduate student guard Jania Hall before a couple of made free throws on an intentional foul by the Huskies with seconds to go, resulting in a final score of 51-48.
Northeastern got off to a hot start, with the Huskies holding an early 13-4 advantage through the first five minutes. Jegede and sophomore guard Yirsy Quéliz combined to score all 18 of Northeastern’s points in the first quarter. Jegede would finish the game with 19 points, and she is now averaging 20 points per game since the conference opener against Stony Brook, her first game back after missing two games in December.
“[Jegede] can score, she’s given us a spark there,” said Northeastern head coach Priscilla Edwards-Lloyd. “She kind of calms things down on the court for us, so I’ve been pleased with her ability to fuel us offensively.”
There was less to write home about offensively in the second quarter, as the teams combined to go 5-for-23 (22%) from the field. The Huskies’ two made field goals in the quarter came more than eight minutes apart — a three-pointer by senior guard Camille Clement 24 seconds in, and a layup by Quéliz with just over a minute to go. Still, the Seahawks were only able to outscore Northeastern by two in the quarter, and the first half ended with the teams tied, 26-26.
Out of halftime, the Huskies scored the first six points of the second half, capped by a three from Quéliz that gave Northeastern the biggest lead they would have all game. The Huskies then proceeded to miss their next nine field goal attempts, allowing UNCW to go on an 11-0 run that put the visitors ahead by five.
While the Huskies made eight three-pointers in total on the day, their second-highest total of the season, it was a tough game for both teams in the post. 6-foot-4 graduate student forward Ali Zelaya, in particular, provided a challenge for the Huskies down low, registering three blocks on the game. The two teams combined to go a dismal 14-for-39 (36%) on layups Sunday afternoon, which played a part in the shooting droughts seen from both sides.
The worst cold stretch of them all came, as aforementioned, in the final five minutes of the game, where the teams combined to go 0-for-16 from the field. Northeastern had numerous chances to tie the game or take a lead, including a missed off-balance layup by Jegede with 23 seconds left that would have put them up by one, and a missed three by Quéliz following the intentional foul that would have tied the game at 51 with nine seconds to go. Off of a baseline inbounds, freshman guard María Sánchez Pitarch found Quéliz wide open in the left corner, but her try bounced off the front rim. The Huskies had one more chance following an offensive rebound and a foul by the Seahawks, but the inbounds pass was stolen by the visitors with three seconds to go.
“We got the look we wanted to, we just couldn’t knock it down,” Edwards-Lloyd said of Quéliz’s attempt from deep.
The loss dropped the Huskies to 0-3 in CAA play, and although it was closer than most of the others they have suffered this season, errors like the 16 turnovers they committed Sunday allowed their opponent to come away with the win.
“I thought we fought hard,” Edwards-Lloyd said. “We did enough to win the game, we just have to do a better job of taking care of the ball down the stretch. Overall, in the game, we gave them too many points off of turnovers.”
Northeastern heads to Maryland to face former Husky Deja Bristol and the Towson Tigers on Friday night at 6 p.m. Stay tuned to WRBB for full coverage of the 2024-25 women’s basketball season.