By Sarah Metcalf
The woes continued for the women’s basketball team this week, losing their third straight game, and falling to below .500 for the first time since starting the season 0-1. The Huskies dropped games to Binghamton and Boston University, leaving them with an 11-12 record overall, and 5-9 in the America East Conference.
“This year has been weird in terms of momentum,” said coach Willette White. “We’re just trying to regain some momentum right now.”
After losing two straight, the Huskies matched up with Boston University in a close, intense game against their cross-town rival, who currently sits second in the AE standings behind Maine with a 15-8 overall, 10-4 AE record. NU battled hard and went toe-to-toe with BU, but the Terriers proved too tough in the end, edging out the Huskies 71-68.
Jody Burrows had a perfect first half, scoring 12 points on 4-for-4 shooting from the field, 2-for-2 from three-point land, and 2-2 from the free throw line. NU also shot well collectively, shooting 40.9 percent in the first half, and made a living off the line, going 10-for-13 and holding BU to just two trips to the line. The Terriers held the edge at halftime, though, clinging to a 34-31 lead at the break.
After jumping out to a one-point lead early in the second half, the Huskies fell behind and would not lead again. NU stayed within five the rest of the half, and managed to cut their deficit to one with only eight seconds remaining in regulation. After two successful free throws by BU’s Becky Bonner, NU senior Melissa Kowalski’s ensuing shot came after the buzzer, giving BU the tight win.
Burrows finished with a career-high 18 before fouling out late in the game. Fouls became a huge problem for both teams, with NU committing 17 second-half fouls, and BU committing 15 of their own. Junior Francesca Vanin also finished in double figures with 15 points and seven rebounds, as well as Kowalski with 12 and sophomore Michelle Decerbo with 11. On the BU side, Katie Terhune scored a game-high 20 points, followed by Bonner with 14. Rachael Vanderwal scored 10 and Adrienne Norris grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.
“They had 22 offensive boards throughout the game, which was a huge difference at the end. They competed, which makes it hard,” White said.
Before the heartbreaker at BU, Northeastern suffered another close loss this time to AE foe Binghamton (13-8, 8-5 AE), 62-60.
The Huskies trailed the Bearcats 32-29 at the end of the first half, but came out in the second fired up. They jumped out to a 36-34 lead, followed by a tug-of-war between both teams for the rest of the half, with neither side leading by more than four. With the Huskies trailing 60-56, senior Joi Jefferson made four free throws on consecutive possessions to tie the game. With the Bearcats’ lead at one, Binghamton’s Rachel Laws came up with a huge pick of sophomore Maralene Zwarich’s drive, forcing Zwarich to foul and allowing the Bearcats to expand their lead to 62-60. A jump ball after NU’s last shot by Zwarich went the Bearcats’ way, sealing the Huskies’ fate.
Jefferson and Kowalski each had 12 points, with Kowalski going 4-for-7 from three-point range, and Jefferson going 7-for-8 from the free-throw line in clutch situations. Vanin also had 11 points. For Binghamton, Leala Wegwerth scored a game-high 14 points and had eight rebounds. Laws and Jen Blues also finished with 13 for the Bearcats, who shot 55.8 percent from the field collectively.
“It was really difficult [to lose two close games in a row],” White said. “But we lost them to two of the top three teams in the conference, and these are who we might face in the America East tournament.
“We’ve got four more games to play, and this is a conference that any team can beat any team, on any given night,” White continued. “We’re not nervous at all [to take on conference-leading Maine]. Everyone on this team believes we can beat Maine. They’re a very beatable team, and we’re planning on being the team that hands them their one loss this year.”
