By Justin Clear-Vekinis, News Correspondent
The women’s basketball team got their first win of the season, but suffered a loss in conference play this past weekend.
The team went 1-1 this week as they were beaten by their conference opponent, the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Rams.
The game was the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) opener for both teams.
The Huskies kept stride with the Rams, down just 36-29 at the half.
However the team couldn’t overcome the deficit in the second half, despite putting up 31 points, in the 67-60 loss.
“The loss showed us that we have no room for error,” head coach Daynia LaForce-Mann said. “We made some mistakes in transition, which gave them a lot of second chance points.”
Sophomore forward Jewel Tunstull led the team with a career-high 21 points while grabbing six rebounds.
“Jewel gives us a dimension we haven’t had on this team before,” LaForce-Mann said. “She draws a lot of attention, which opens up the perimeter. She turns the ball over a little bit, but she’s working hard to clean that up.”
Freshman forward Genevieve Gaboriault also scored in double digits, adding 12 points, while senior guard Dani Iervolino notched nine points.
“We need to continue to work on boxing out and rebounding and we need to stick to the game plan.” Iervolino said.
The Huskies gave up 25 turnovers, which turned into 25 points for the Rams in the game while they outshot the Rams 43 percent to 39 percent.
“We watched film and looked at the type of turnovers we committed,” LaForce-Mann said. “They were unforced turnovers. We need to make better passing decisions and keeping the ball.”
Despite yet another loss, Northeastern managed to get their first win of the season Dec. 1 against the University of Vermont Catamounts.
“It was very important for us as a team to see the results of playing well together,” LaForce-Mann said of the performance.
Junior forward Christine Huber contributed to the win with a double-double, adding a career-high 17 points and team-high 14 rebounds.
“We played hard and took care of the basketball,” LaForce-Mann said. “Only 10 turnovers this game when we were averaging over 20 before.”
Three other players scored in double digits. Junior guard Deanna Kerkhof and senior guard Jamie Conroy added 16 points each, while Iervolino knocked off 13 points.
“We were patient during play,” LaForce-Mann said. “We were able to make multiple passes and get the ball to the right people at the right time.”
Northeastern got off to a strong start, going on an 8-2 run in the middle of the first half to keep the lead going into halftime.
The Huskies pushed their lead further, going up 12 points with 10 minutes left in the game.
“We scout our opponents tendencies for a reason and when we play their tendencies we shut them down,” Iervolino said.
The Catamounts bounced back to bring the deficit to five, but the Huskies held on for the 78-62 victory in front of a crowd of 874 at Solomon Court.
“The energy absolutely helped with our game,” Iervolino said. “It makes us want to work harder and gets us pumped up when we hear the crowd cheering.”
Students from four Boston public schools were in attendance as part of City Year – the educational non-profit focused on keeping kids in school.
The trip to watch the game was part of a series of activities and lectures for students.
The lectures promoted the importance of education and staying on track in school throughout the day.
In addition to the students, Northeastern President Joseph Aoun and newly signed Boston Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine were in attendance.
Valentine, who has close ties to the Conroy family after senior guard Jamie Conroy lost her father in the September 11 attacks, came out to support Conroy in her game.
In an interview with the The News, Conroy discussed the importance of Valentine to her family.
“He came to us when we needed him,” Conroy said.
Conroy considers Valentine her “guardian angel.”
“The support we felt was tremendous,” LaForce-Mann said. “Whether we made a mistake or not, we felt supported and the kids wanted to be there to support us.”
The Huskies will next face the University of Miami (OH.) Redhawks Dec. 19 in Oxford, Ohio.
