By: Justin Clear-Vekinis, News correspondent
The women’s basketball team’s troubles continued as it shot just 32.8 percent from the floor, compared to Virginia Commonwealth University’s 53.3 percent. The apathetic offensive efforts gave way to a 82-55 shellacking by the Rams.
The loss drops the Huskies to 8-14 on the season and 3-8 in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), putting them at a tie for third-to-last with George Mason University.
“We spent the entire time in the second half trying to crawl out of a hole against a very good team,” head coach Daynia La-Force Mann said. “We can’t afford to have that happen.”
Sophomore forward Christine Huber led the Huskies with 12 points and grabbed six rebounds. Classmate and guard Deanna Kerkhof added eight points in addition to her four steals on the day.
Junior guard Kashaia Cannon went 5-6 from the free throw line, finishing with 10 points. Junior guard Dani Iervolino added six points, while senior forward Mia Mayberry also knocked off six points for the team.
“We’re trying to think of new things to do,” Cannon said. “[We need] to fix what we’ve been working on and ultimately go into every game ready to play.”
During the first half, the Rams held a strong advantage from the get-go and took a 42-31 lead into the break.
But the worst of the Huskies’ troubles came at the opening of the second half as the Rams went on a 15-0 run, effectively destroying any chances of a comeback.
“We just did not come out in the second half ready to play,” La-Force Mann said. “The momentum was clearly in our favor at the end of the first half, and I think we took a break mentally and we didn’t show up to play in the second half.”
The second half was dominated by the Rams’ possessions and their widest lead came with three minutes left to play, when the Huskies trailed by 34 points.
“We came out slow and they came out ready and pumped to play,” Cannon said. “We made mistakes and they capitalized on them, and as it wore on, it drained us as a team.”
The Huskies also suffered a 52-37 road loss the University of Delaware Blue Hens last Thursday.
The contest marked the Huskies’ worst offensive showing of the season, as they scored the least amount of points they have scored all year.
“Offensively, we didn’t hit shots,” Cannon said. “We had wide-open shots and we didn’t convert. Defensively, we played well in the second half – we kept them under 20 points – but we weren’t as strong as we could have been in the first half.”
This is the second time the Blue Hens defeated the Huskies this season, with NU losing the first game 61-51 at Solomon Court Jan. 6.
“I just felt that we didn’t shoot the ball well,” La-Force Mann said. “We knew going into that game that one of the keys was hitting shots. We had 27 3-point attempts, and I think maybe 25 were wide open and we were not able to connect. Deanna [Kerkhof] had a poor shooting night and Jamie [Conroy] had a poor shooting night.”
Sophomore Deanna Kerkhof and junior Jamie Conroy combined to shoot just 4-24 from the floor.
Junior Dani Iervolino led the Huskies with a season-high of 13 points. Senior guard Tiffany Crews posted a team-high of eight rebounds.
“I think we did a superb job defensively,” La-Force Mann said. “We limited [Delaware] to one offensive rebound total in the second half and I thought we did a nice job of boxing out. We also forced [Delaware guard] Delle Donne to take tough shots, although in the first half we left her open too much, but in the second half we fixed that.”
The Huskies look to snap their three-game losing streak tonight as they travel to Norfolk, Va., to take on Old Dominion University. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
