By Aren LeBrun, News Correspondent
The Northeastern Huskies defeated the University of North Carolina-Wilmington Seahawks 67-52 on the road Sunday afternoon to improve to 15-10 overall and 8-6 in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA).
Senior guard Kashaia Cannon recorded her 1,000th career point in the win, becoming just the 16th player in program history to reach this milestone. The 15th was teammate and fellow captain Deanna Kerkhof on Jan. 24.
The Huskies were led by Cannon’s 16 points. Junior center Jewel Tunstull continued her strong play of late, recording 16 points and nine rebounds. Senior forward Christine Huber chipped in a team-high 12 rebounds to go along with six points and five assists. Freshman forward Samantha DeFreese netted a career-high 15 points off the bench.
The Seahawks’ offense was paced by three players in double figures. Senior forward Karneshia Garrett had a big double-double, scoring 14 points to go with her game-high 14 rebounds. Junior forward Dana Brown scored 14 points as well and freshman guard Jessica Freeman chipped in 10.
It was a rare poor shooting day from distance for Northeastern, who converted 18.8 percent of its three-point attempts. They found their advantage on the defensive end of the floor, on the boards and from stellar bench play. The Huskies outrebounded UNCW 40-35 and forced 17 turnovers, scoring 13 points off turnovers against none from the Seahawks. The bench scoring margin was 19-5 in favor of Northeastern.
The Huskies took off running in the first half, jumping out to a 19-8 lead midway through the first half off a DeFreese three-point play. The Seahawks then rattled off eight straight points to cut the lead to three.
After a Northeastern timeout, Huber ended the UNCW run with a jumper and freshman guard Kazzidy Stewart hit a pair of free throws. A pair of DeFreese buckets pushed the lead back up to double digits and she scored another basket in the paint to close the half. The Huskies held a 33-24 lead going into the break.
DeFreese’s 15 points on the game was a career-high.
“She earned her minutes in practice,” head coach Daynia La-Force said. “She earned her role in the past two games. You can definitely expect her to get more minutes and play a more significant role in our success going forward.”
After allowing the Seahawks to go on a 6-2 run to start the second half, Tunstull scored in the post. Back to back UNCW threes cut the lead to just one point and forced a Northeastern timeout.
Tunstull scored two consecutive buckets out of the timeout, and Mark followed suit with her first three-pointer of the day.
Cannon responded to consecutive Seahawk baskets by nailing two jumpers of her own. The second shot was the one that pushed her over the 1,000 point mark.
“I’m just happy that after the injury she had last year she was capable of coming back,” La-Force said. “She’s just part of the family. I’m just very happy for her.”
The Northeastern lead stayed around 10 for the next several minutes. Strong free throw shooting down the stretch eventually pushed the lead to 15, with the final score being 67-52.
This win was the second straight conference victory for the Huskies. They swept their two-game road trip, with both wins being in double figures. Northeastern sits at 8-6 in the CAA, climbing above Hofstra University for sole rights to fifth seed in the conference.
With the next three games at home, La-Force said she feels that with tight defense and high intensity her team has a good chance of winning out.
“Offense is much easier for us when we’re getting steals and going in transition,” she said. “I definitely think that if we continue to focus on defense and stopping our opponents from scoring, we’ll have a much better job at actually winning out for the conference.”
The Huskies will face Towson University tonight before returning home for a bout with Old Dominion University on Sunday, March 3. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m.
