By Aren LeBrun, News Staff

The women’s baskettball team (7-8, 1-1 Colonial Athletic Association) opened its conference schedule last week with a 64-50 victory on the road against UNCW.

“It feels great,” said head coach Daynia La-Force after the win. “Conference play, everyone starts out zero and zero. We knew that they were going to try and come out and beat us.”

In the win against UNCW (1-15, 0-2 CAA), junior guard A’lece Mark scored a game-high 21 points and tallied seven boards and six assists. This was Mark’s fourth 20-point performance of the season.

“She did a great job, she’s been doing a great job since she’s been back.” La-Force said. “She’s just the spark that we needed.”

Sophomore guard Tiffany Montagne and junior guard Amencie Mercier joined Mark in double figures, scoring 13 and 10 points, respectively. Sophomore forward Samantha DeFreese pulled down a career-high 16 rebounds.

UNCW was led by freshman guard Brie Mobley, who recorded 20 points and four rebounds.

The Huskies, ready to prove their third-overall preseason conference ranking, raced out to an early 7-0 lead, forcing the Seahawks to call a timeout. After UNCW finally got on the board with a jumper, Mark scored consecutive layups to widen the margin even further and put Northeastern up 11-2.

After trading baskets for the majority of the period, UNCW managed to string together an 8-0 run to cut the lead to five, 21-26. Montagne splashed her second three of the half and freshman forward Francesca Sally scored to give Northeastern an 11-point lead going into halftime.

The Seahawks began to figure it out in the second half. After a Tunstull free throw ended a two-minute scoring drought for both teams, UNCW went on another 8-0 run that cut the deficit to just one point.

Sophomore guard Kazzidy Stewart answered the call for Northeastern, hitting a major three-pointer that sparked what would eventually become a 11-0 run for the Huskies.

Neither team could generate much offensive momentum from that point, and Northeastern rode out its double-digit lead to the end of the contest, securing a 64-50 victory on a layup from Mark.

Northeastern shot 44 percent in the contest, including eight of 20 from three-point range. Defense was the focus throughout, as the Huskies held UNCW to 30 percent shooting from the field and a lowly one of 18 from distance. Enough pressure was applied to hinder the Seahawks’ offense, as they only recorded six assists compared to Northeastern’s 11.

The rebounding battle has been a point of emphasis in practice, and La-Force feels that her players are starting to settle into a more aggressive mindset on the glass.

“We talked about that after the non-conference season ended,” she said. “We have to be able to take the next step and listen to the gameplan.”

The second game of the Huskies’ road trip ended in a buzzer-beating loss to Towson University (8-7, 2-0 CAA) on Sunday afternoon in Maryland. Mark led Northeastern with 15 points and five rebounds. Mercier and Montagne each chipped in 13 points.

The game saw 10 lead changes, and despite a nine of 22 showing from beyond the arc for the

Huskies, Towson’s sophomore guard Dominique Johnson hit a three-pointer as time expired to prevent Northeastern from sweeping the road trip.

The Huskies return home to the Cabot Center to face CAA newcomer College of Charleston on Sunday, Jan. 19. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m.