BOSTON — In the opening quarter where Northeastern led 21-9 against the North Carolina A&T Aggies, all seemed well for the conference play home opener at the Cabot Center. Despite an entertaining night of basketball, clutch shots, defensive breakdowns, and everything else in between, that lead proved misleading.
Both teams came into Cabot winless in the opening weekend of CAA play, as the Huskies lost to UNCW and Charleston in their road trip, and the Aggies had also dropped two straight at home to William & Mary and Monmouth.
For Northeastern, sophomore center Alyssa Staten made her return from injury in her first game since late November at Rutgers, adding much needed size at 6-foot-2. However, the Aggies were without preseason All-CAA first team member Chaniya Clark, their leading scorer, offering the Huskies the perfect opportunity to capitalize and claim their first win in CAA play.
Northeastern came out firing on all cylinders in the opening quarter, shooting 7-13 from the field and forcing nine NC A&T turnovers due to an effective full-court press. The second quarter proved to be a different narrative as the Aggies shot an improved 6-11 from the field and converted on eight out of 10 attempts from the free throw line. The Aggies made the adjustments needed on both sides of the ball, breaking the Huskies’ full-court press and forcing seven Northeastern turnovers to pull within 31-30 at halftime.
In the third quarter, Northeastern was able to extend its lead to eight thanks to the efforts of Justice Tramble and her ability to finish inside the paint. But NC A&T kept finding a way to respond, as Graduate student D’Mya Tucker took over the game, shooting a perfect 5-for-5 from the field and scoring 13 points in the third quarter alone, giving her team a 55-49 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
It appeared to be all but over as Junior Paris Locke extended the Aggies’ lead to five with just 22 seconds left. It wasn’t until star Junior guard Yirsy Quéliz hit a three with ten seconds left to cut the deficit to two. The Huskies still had to foul and did so, fouling Junior forward Darrionna Howard, who came into the game shooting just 46% from the free throw line, and they got what they needed as Howard went one of two from the line. With nine seconds left, Quéliz called her own shot, draining a right-wing three to tie the game at 72 and sending the Cabot faithful into a frenzy.
“She’s a great player. Sometimes she forgets [that]. But she made some big shots for us. She’s capable of doing that all the time, and so [I’m] really proud of her for getting us to the point where we were in position to win the game,” said Northeastern head coach Priscilla Edwards-Lloyd.
The first overtime had both teams trading baskets, where NC A&T was able to pull away by three with 32 seconds left. After Northeastern sophomore transfer Camryn Collins drew an and-one opportunity and was unable to convert on a three-point play, Quéliz came in for the rebound and drew the foul to send the Huskies to the line to potentially win the game. She went one of two, sending the game into yet another overtime.
The second overtime clearly showed two tired teams, but they were in it to fight until the very end. After Paris Locke finished on a lefty layup and gave the Aggies an 84-83 lead, the Huskies looked once again to Yirsy Quéliz for the game winner in the waning seconds. After bobbling the ball and picking up her dribble on the right side, she looked to sophomore forward Taylor Holohan for the lefty-hook, but her attempt was just short in a wild game at the Cabot Center.
“I thought we played extremely hard. Just didn’t get that last bounce, but proud of our effort and our fight,” said Edwards-Lloyd after the game.
This was the first double-overtime game the Huskies have played in since February 1, 2015 when they played William & Mary and lost 72-66 in Cabot.
Although this wasn’t the result Huskies fans wanted, the effort through the lineup will pay dividends as conference play continues, as this depth was something the Huskies didn’t have the luxury of last season, as they were plagued with injuries.
The Huskies will continue to look for their first win in conference play as they face Monmouth at the Cabot Center on Friday with Jordan Walsh on the call on WRBB Sports+.
Daniel Ku is a third-year student at Northeastern University, covering Northeastern sports since 2024. Read all of his articles here.