By Aren LeBrun, News Correspondent 

The women’s basketball team (11-15, 5-8 Colonial Athletic Association) rebounded from last Thursday’s road loss emphatically, overcoming a 15-point deficit to defeat Drexel University (12-14, 7-6 CAA) in a 78-73 double-overtime thriller on Sunday, its first victory over the Dragons since 2008.

The win, Northeastern’s third over the past four games, was its largest comeback victory of the season.

“Very exciting,” said head coach Daynia La-Force. “Just to see them kind of be resilient and play harder coming off that loss against Hofstra. It’s just great to see.”

Senior center Jewel Tunstull led the Huskies with game-highs of 22 points and 17 rebounds. The team’s lone senior continued her masterful play of late, averaging 23.3 points and 13.5 rebounds over the last fourg games, recording her league leading 11th double-double of the season.

Tunstull was aided by her teammates, with four other Huskies scoring in double figures. Sophomore forward Samantha DeFreese followed up on her first career CAA Player of the Week honors with a solid 17-point, 9-rebound effort. It was a strong performance from the starting backcourt as well, with fellow juniors and co-captains A’lece Mark and Amencie Mercier combining for 25 points, 9 assists and 6 steals.

It was a tightly contested game early on. Northeastern took the first lead of the night on a Tunstull tip-in, but Drexel answered with a three-pointer and a layup. Mercier drilled one of her career-high four three-pointers to tie the game at five apiece.

Things began to get out of hand fast for Northeastern, as a Drexel triple sparked what would become a red-hot 17-2 run for the Dragons, and the Huskies were suddenly on the wrong end of a 22-7 margin just nine minutes into the contest.

“They came out and shot the three-ball very well, they were hot.” La-Force said. “I saw a couple of the girls hang their heads. I told them weather the storm, stay confident, stick with the gameplan.”

Mark helped Northeastern answer, chipping in five points in a 9-0 run that cut the deficit to single digits. DeFreese nailed a longball to cut the margin to just four points with a little over three minutes to go in the half, but Drexel managed to quiet Northeastern with a pair of jumpers to end the half. The Huskies entered the locker room trailing the Dragons by a score of 35-29.

The second-half was a back-and-forth battle before junior guard Tanisha Hopewell connected on a clutch layup with 48 seconds remaining in regulation, sending Northeastern to its first overtime contest of the year.

After trading baskets to open the overtime period, Tunstull’s layup and free throw gave the Huskies a three-point advantage. Drexel answered strongly, seemingly taking complete control with a 6-0 run to give them a 69-66 lead with just 23 seconds remaining.

After a perfectly executed inbounds play, sophomore guard Kazzidy Stewart knocked down a huge shot from beyond the arc to tie the game at 69-all, sending the game into double-overtime.

Mercier opened double-overtime with her fourth three-pointer of the contest, giving her squad a lead that it would not surrender. Northeastern held on for the five-minute period, securing a 78-73 victory.

“All I was thinking was just catch and shoot,” said Mercier. “I’ve been working on it in practice. I think it was a big factor in the game.”

Northeastern continued its strong offensive play of late, shooting 46 percent from the floor on the night, including an exceptional 48 percent from three-point range. Drexel connected on 42 percent of its shots, including 35 percent from long range.

The win was an important one for the Huskies, as they now sit just a half game back from Towson University for the sixth seed in the CAA. With three games left in the regular season schedule, Northeastern has an opportunity to move up in the rankings before the conference tournament.

“It’s just great to grow as a team right now,” DeFreese said. “We’re just really playing off of each other’s energy. Just knowing we can do this now, three days before going into the CAA tournament, it just feels great.”

The Huskies travel to Williamsburg, Va., to take on the College of William & Mary this Thursday for their final road game of the regular season. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.