Playing for pride — and perhaps trying to spark a bit of magic after injuries decimated their season for the second year in a row — Northeastern put up a valiant effort in the first round of the CAA Tournament on Wednesday afternoon, but ultimately fell to Towson by a final score of 67-44.
Freshman center Alyssa Staten was the star for the Huskies, recording a career-high 20 points as well as 14 rebounds, notching her fourth double-double in the past six games. But Northeastern’s leading scorer during the regular season, redshirt sophomore guard Abby Jegede, simply couldn’t get anything to fall; she scored just three points and finished 0-for-14 from the floor, her first game all season without a made field goal.
The Tigers’ defense held the Huskies as a whole to just 27% shooting from the field, and was able to turn stops into scores, especially in the first half. Towson scored 17 points off of nine Northeastern turnovers in the first 20 minutes alone, allowing them to expand what was just a four-point lead midway through the second quarter to a 16-point advantage by halftime.
“I feel like we played really hard, fought really hard, so I was proud of that,” said Northeastern head coach Priscilla Edwards-Lloyd. “Ultimately, we didn’t do a good enough job taking care of the ball. Towson pressured us, and that bothered us some. We settled in a little bit in the second half, but just let the gap get a little bit too deep. But, again, I’m just pleased with the effort and the fight from our team.”
The Huskies had just seven players available Wednesday, as they did in their first-round game against UNCW last year, but they were unable to come up with a victory this time. The Tigers’ advantage in terms of roster depth was evident, as ten different Towson players scored a basket. Northeastern hasn’t had more than ten players healthy since early December.
That also makes Staten’s performance even more impressive, who, as the Huskies’ only healthy true frontcourt player, had to play 33 minutes of action, while the Tigers had two centers who were able to split time at the position relatively evenly.
Staten was simply everywhere for Northeastern, whether she was finishing on rolls to the basket or collecting offensive boards to extend possessions. It was incredible to witness for a player who came into the season arguably fourth on the depth chart at center, but was thrust into a starting role within a month due to the pileup of injuries. The circumstances were similar to those of sophomore guard Yirsy Quéliz during her freshman season last year, when she ended up starting every game of conference play as a rookie.
“Well first, I see someone who should’ve been on the All-Rookie Team,” Edwards-Lloyd said of Staten. “She’s more than deserving of that, but that’s neither here nor there. I just see someone who really focused on maturing, and just really adapted to a very difficult situation. She knew she was our only post left on the roster, and we needed her. And she stepped up in a big way for us. Just by giving her best, being coachable, learning, and [she] just became such a tremendous and tough player in the second half.”
Quéliz herself finished the game with 13 points, her 19th double-digit performance of the season. She played the most minutes of any Husky this season, averaging 34.3 per game. Similarly to last year, as one of the few players on the team to stay healthy for most of the season, she had to carry a significant load.
“I’m just super proud of this team and who we finished with,” Quéliz said. “Every day in practice, we do the same thing, we have the same mentality, we push through every time. And even though we didn’t get the outcome we wanted, I’m still super proud of the team because we fought until the end.”
The focus for Northeastern now turns to the offseason, as they hope to finally have a year without the injuries that destroyed the rosters in both of Edwards-Lloyd’s first two seasons at the helm.
Give credit to this Huskies team once again for battling — despite a 16-game losing streak that lasted nearly three months, they were able to finish conference play with two wins, including a Senior Night victory over Elon in the home finale last week.
Northeastern, though, finishes the season with a record of 3-25, their worst in program history outside of the 1990-91 season (3-26). Towson, who extended their winning streak over the Huskies to eight straight games, will move on to play No. 6 Elon Thursday night. The Tigers have knocked Northeastern out of the CAA Tournament three of the past four years.
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