By Jessica Man
The Northeastern women’s basketball team cannot find a winning rhythm.
They’ve lost three on the road to the University of New Hampshire, 70-64, Stony Brook, 77-66 and Binghamton, 75-53 — all America East rivals — and find themselves in a five-game losing streak.
The Huskies are now 7-11 overall and 2-7 in the America East Conference.
On Tuesday at UNH, freshman Shaleyse Smallwood led all scorers with 20 points, but couldn’t keep the Huskies from falling short. NU senior Francesca Vanin notched her fourth double-double of the season with 10 points and a game-high 12 rebounds in the losing effort.
In the game against Binghamton on Saturday, NU again had great performances individually, but was not able to come out with a win. Smallwood shot 22 points and junior guard Marlene Zwarich reeled in 15, continuing her streak of 15 consecutive games with double-digit scoring. Collectively, the Huskies were only 37.5 percent from the floor, going 21-for-56.
NU had a strong first half and was able to hold on to a 26-24 lead heading into the break. However, Binghamton junior guard Rachel Laws and freshman guard Nicole Lobach had hot shooting hands in the second half, 10 and 11 points respectively, which enabled Stony Brook to seal the win.
It was a milestone week for the senior forward Vanin, who scored her 1,000th career point in the Stony Brook game. But Vanin’s success — 11 points, five rebounds and three assists — was not enough to put the Huskies on top of the Seawolves. Stony Brook was able to take advantage of NU’s dry spell in the first five minutes of the contest, making it a quick 6-0. Zwarich finally put the Huskies on the scoreboard with a layup at 15:37.
The Seawolves pulled away in the first half, 35-32, with Danyelle Ingram’s buzzer-beater layup. In the end, it came down to shooting accuracy, with Stony Brook shooting 48.3 percent from the field compared to NU’s 36.7 percent. Throughout the duration of the second half, the Huskies were trailing by as much as 15 points, 60-45, and only managed to pull within eight before eventually suffering the loss.
The Huskies return home Saturday to play America East foe , the University ofVermont at Solomon Court. Game time is 1 p.m.
