BOSTON — After leading for the first 32 minutes of play, the Huskies fell apart in the final quarter, dropping their fourth game in a row, this time to the Hampton Lady Pirates. Similar to Northeastern, the Lady Pirates entered today’s game on a losing skid of their own, losing their last seven and going winless in February, but snapped it in a resilient performance Sunday.
The two teams squared off late last season as well, and the results did not differ much. Both were one-possession games for the majority of their respective fourth quarters, as last year’s contest ended in a tip-in with two seconds left by senior forward Le’Asia Foreman, who did not see action this afternoon, for a 68-66 win. This time, the go-ahead shot came on a second-chance pull-up jumper from senior guard Olivia Smith with three minutes left in regulation. Once snagging the lead, Hampton did not look back.
Sophomore forward Justice Tramble took control for the Huskies in the first half, cruising her way to 15 points in 12 minutes on the floor. The 37-31 lead going into halftime seemed solid, as the Huskies weren’t showing many holes in their play. They had fewer turnovers, and their defense stole the ball four times.
“Yeah, [Tramble] played hard,” head coach Priscilla Edwards-Lloyd said. “She did some good things offensively for us today.”
A buzzer-beater triple out of the hand of junior guard Yirsy Quéliz was the dagger that extended the first half lead to six. Standing at a modest 5-foot-4, Quéliz shot over a triple team and kept momentum in favor of Northeastern.
The Huskies continued their hot streak into the third, keeping the lead steady for most of the quarter. Lady Pirates junior guard Kiki McElrath scored 11 points on 80 percent shooting from the field, yet couldn’t break through the Huskies lead. A McElrath mid-range jump shot made the deficit two points halfway into the quarter, but a deep three ball from graduate guard Nariyah Simmons shushed the Hampton crowd immediately.
The fourth quarter turned out to be the beginning of the end for the Huskies. Defensively, things fell apart quickly: there was a lack of presence down low, and the Lady Pirates capitalized, scoring 14 of their 23 points in the paint. Smith led the charge with seven points, and non-surprisingly four of them by way of the layup.
“I’m disappointed in our defensive effort, I think we fouled them too much in the second half,” Edwards-Lloyd said. “We didn’t keep them in front. Just a really disappointing defensive effort in the second half.”
Northeastern currently sits in 12th place in the CAA, and a win today would’ve drastically improved their chances at obtaining a first round bye. Instead, looking forward, the Hofstra Pride need to lose their final two games of play. The Huskies final game of the regular season comes against Hofstra, meaning their meeting on Saturday is a must-win to get that bye.
Nonetheless, looking back at the season, although lackluster in certain aspects, there was much improvement made since the 2024-25 campaign. Northeastern has already more than doubled their win total from a season ago and has shown flashes of what could be a dominant team in the future.
“[The] story is about a young team that’s just trying to grow up,” Edwards-Lloyd said. “Just continuing to grow game by game.”
Northeastern’s regular season comes to a close this coming Saturday, March 7. They will welcome Hofstra University to Cabot Gymnasium for a 1 p.m. tip.
Samuel Glassman is a second-year student at Northeastern University who has been with WRBB Sports since February 2025, covering women’s basketball and baseball. You can find him on Twitter here.