By Aren LeBrun, News Correspondent
Despite a season for the record books, the Northeastern Huskies could not overcome their cold shooting night in the quarterfinal round of the 2013 Colonial Athletic Association women’s basketball championship, suffering a 57-52 loss to the Hofstra University Pride (14-17 overall, 9-9 CAA) on March 15 in Upper Marlboro, Md.
Junior center Jewel Tunstull led the Huskies with a double-double, scoring 12 points and pulling down a season-high 17 rebounds. Sophomore guard A’lece Mark recorded 12 points and dished out a game-high five assists. Mark’s backcourt partner, fellow sophomore guard Amencie Mercier, was the third Husky in double figures with 11.
Hofstra was paced by a 15-point effort from sophomore guard Andreana Thomas and 11 points from senior forward Deven Green. Senior forward Shante Evans (All-CAA First Team) chipped in six points and a collected a team-high 11 rebounds, while senior swingman Candace Bond recorded nine points and nine rebounds. Freshman guard Asia Jackson swiped seven steals.
The Huskies offense was uncharacteristic in this game, unable to find a rhythm. Northeastern shot 30.3 percent (20-66) from the floor, far below its 41.4 percent season average. The Huskies also committed 19 turnovers while forcing only 14 from the Pride. This helped Hofstra obtain a 13-6 advantage in points off turnovers, as well as a 10-0 margin in fast break buckets. A 49-39 rebounding edge for Northeastern couldn’t make up for its cold shooting and turnover problems.
“I definitely feel like we were the better team coming into tonight but we didn’t play like it,” head coach Daynia La-Force said in a postgame press conference. “And that’s exactly what I told my players. If you want to play like you played today, this is the result.”
The Pride were the first to strike, with Annie Payton knocking down a three-pointer on their first possession. Mercier got Northeastern going with a layup, the start of a 12-0 run that gave the Huskies a nine-point lead.
After a Hofstra timeout, the Pride went on a roll, scoring eight straight points of their own. But a three-pointer from Mark and a Hopewell layup gave Northeastern a 29-22 lead going into the break.
Hofstra came out of the break hot, trimming the Huskies’ lead to just a two-point, 34-32 lead. After the first media timeout of the second half, Bond knocked down a jump shot and Jackson dropped in a layup to give the Pride their first lead since the game’s opening minutes.
Six straight from Tunstull brought the score to 40 all, but Hofstra responded with five straight baskets to force a timeout from La-Force.
After the timeout, senior captain Deanna Kerkhof scored her first points of the day and Hopewell stole the ball and laid it in to make it a 47-44 game. The Pride answered with four straight, going up seven points with 5:47 remaining.
Mercier scored in the paint and followed up with a three-pointer to cut the deficit to two with just under three minutes left, but an Evans lay-in pushed it back to four after the stop.
Northeastern couldn’t convert on its next few possessions, and Hofstra made free throws down the stretch to ice a 57-52 victory.
“We all have nagging injuries this late in the season,” La-Force said, regarding her team’s second half slump. “But you’re fighting to survive. No matter what’s wrong with you, you gotta suck it up and you gotta play.”
The first-round tournament loss was a disappointing end to their year, but the Huskies go into the offseason with a 17-13 overall record after two consecutive seasons of finishing 8-22. The Huskies improved in conference play as well, their 10-8 CAA record comes over a 6-12 finish in 2011-12 and 3-15 in 2010-11.
Huskies were also honored with awards as the regular season came to a close, with La-Force taking home CAA Coach of the Year after her squad’s 11 home wins set the record for the most in program history.
Players were recognized by the CAA for their accomplishments this season, with three taking home All-CAA honors (Kerkhof with Second-Team selection, Tunstull and Cannon with Third-Team).
This season saw two seniors, Deanna Kerkhof and Kashaia Cannon, reach the 1,000 point milestone, the 15th and 16th Huskies to ever do so. Cannon holds another career milestone as well, with her 80 made three-pointers an all-time season high for Northeastern women’s basketball.
