By Nate Owen, News Staff

For much of regulation yesterday at Solomon Court, it appeared the eighth place Huskies and the first place Drexel Dragons had reversed roles.
The Huskies were boxing out’ and matching Drexel’s intensity, but ultimately couldn’t hold off the Dragons, falling 58-53 in overtime.
‘It’s been happening a lot,’ NU head coach Daynia La-Force Mann said of being unable to close out games. ‘We start to clam up and we’re not getting second chance points. [A team like Drexel] expects to win, they had a lot of different players step up and hit big shots. They didn’t celebrate those big shots, they have the confidence because they are a top team in the conference and they have been there before.’
Northeastern led 29-22 at the half and pushed its lead 32-22 on the opening possession of the second half when sophomore guard Jasmine Crews’ three pointer rolled off the rim into the basket, just barely beating the buzzer.’
The Dragons and forward Gabriela Marginean, the 2008-09 Colonial Athletic Association Preseason Player of the year, battled back and finally tied the game at 48 on a three pointer by guard Andrea Peterson with 15 seconds left.
The Huskies had been up 46-37 with 5:30 left, but were unable to hold the lead and the game went to overtime for the third time in four games and for the third straight time at home.
In overtime, freshman guard Kashaia Cannon’s three pointer with 26 ticks remaining sliced the Dragons’ led to 56-53. But Peterson sank both her free throws 4 seconds later, and the Dragons held on for their 10th win in a row.
‘We went into a scoring drought,’ NU freshman guard Brittany Wilson said of Drexel’s comeback in regulation. ‘We could have used some more offensive rebounds. [Drexel] is used to coming back, it wasn’t always their star players scoring [in the comeback].’
Wilson led the Huskies and tied a career-high with 17 points. Crew and junior forward and co-captain Kendra Walton each had 11. Marginean had 22 points and 7 boards for the Dragons (18-8, 13-2 CAA), who remain in a first place tie with Virginia Commonwealth University.
Prior to yesterday’s loss, the Huskies emerged with a win at William & Mary (12-14, 5-10 CAA) on Thursday.
Four players scored in double figures:’ Wilson (17) Crew (16), senior guard and co-captain Ashlee Feldman (14), and junior forward Kim Carr (10).
The Huskies went on a 12-0 run to break open a 30-18 lead at halftime. The Tribe rallied, pulling to within eight with 23 seconds left, but a pair of Crew free throws gave the Huskies the 68-58 win.
Even with the loss yesterday, Northeastern has begun to pick things up as the CAA tournament approaches in March.
‘ ‘We want to play our best basketball towards the end of the season,’ La-Force Mann said. ‘We sent a message to the league that by keeping the No. 1 team in the conference on the ropes, we can be a force to be reckoned with in the CAA.’
The Huskies (10-16, 7-8 CAA) travel to Delaware (4-11, 12-14 CAA) Thursday at 7 p.m.
Northeastern will’ travel’ to VCU (23-9, 13-2 CAA), who is tied with Drexel for first place, Sunday at 2 p.m. before coming home next Wednesday to wrap up the regular season against Hofstra (15-11, 7-8 CAA) at 7 p.m.’