By Owen Pence, news correspondent

Holiday season did not treat the Northeastern (3-11) women’s basketball team kindly, nor did the New Year, as the Huskies dropped their fifth straight game Sunday afternoon. The Huskies fell to 3-11 on the season and 0-4 in conference play after a 54-48 loss to the University of Delaware (6-9).

The defeat produced NU’s second worst offensive output of the season, with the worst coming a week prior in Philadelphia, a 58-35 blowout at the hands of Drexel University (9-6).

Despite disappointing results, the Huskies began December with three close contests. At the University of Maine (9-6), the team lost by nine. NU returned to Massachusetts, only to suffer two defeats:  a 67-65 loss at Harvard University (6-8) followed two days later by a 63-62 heartbreaker to the University of New Hampshire (UNH) at Cabot Center.

Senior guardAmencie Mercier and junior guard Tiffany Montagne helped the Huskies remain competitive amidst this three game skid. Mercler averaged just under 12 points per game and Montagne shot 17 points at Maine and 16 points at Harvard.

Squandered leads were the common denominator in NU’s back-to-back one-possession losses, with defensive lapses down the stretch proving to be costly.Against Harvard, NU led by 10 with just over eight minutes to play before the Crimson reeled off a 19-6 run, setting up a dramatic finish that resulted in a Harvard win.

History repeated two days later, this time in aneven more dramatic fashion at home against UNH (11-5). For one dominant 14-minute stretch, the Huskies held the Wildcats scoreless while tallying 17 points to extend their lead to 20 with 13 minutes to play.

Northeastern’s offense quickly became stagnant, with nine field goal attempts yielding just one basket in the span of seven minutes. After an intense back and forth in the final two minutes, Wildcat freshman guardKristen Anderson drained a buzzer beating 3-pointer, completing the comeback with a bang.

After almost a week off, the Huskies traveled to Albany, N.Y. where they attained their lone win of the month, a 70-67 thriller over the University at Albany Great Danes (10-6).

This was a team effort, with five players scoring in double digits for NU, including Montagne who put the Huskies up for good with a 3-pointer with 1:29 remaining. Shooting efficiency, a skill the Huskies lacked in their previous three contests, was on full display at Albany. The five double-digit scorers helped lead the Huskies to a collective shooting percentage of 54.9 percent on the afternoon.

Play once again turned sour for Northeastern on their four-game road trip, as double digit losses to Boston College (8-8) and Drexel preceded yet another nail-biting defeat, an 85-83 setback against Hofstra University (11-4).

At Hofstra, 40 minutes wasn’t enough as junior forwardSamantha DeFreese’s game-winning attempt fell short, forcing overtime. Despite a valiant effort in the additional five minutes that saw Northeastern erase two four-point deficits, free throws from Hofstra junior guardsDarius Faulk and Asia Jackson secured the Huskies fate on their final game of the road trip.

Upon returning home on Dec. 9 for the CAA home opener against 13-2 James Madison University (JMU), Northeastern’s woes continued in the form of losses. JMU took the lead 26 seconds into the game, and never surrendered that lead. At halftime, the Huskies were down 16. Despite strong individual efforts from DeFreese (20 points) and senior guard A’lece Mark (17 points), the team only shot 38.3 percent from the floor. The final score was 77-55.

Two days later NU hosted the Delaware Blue Hens in a much closer game. With just over two minutes to go, the game was tied at 42. Sophomore center Francesca Sally had a chance to put the Huskies up by two points but only made one of two free throws. NU fouled Delaware in the final minutes but the strategy did not benefit the Huskies. The Blue Hens made their shots from the line and won 54-48.

The Huskies hope to end their current skid on Friday night at the Cabot Center against the University of North Carolina Wilmington, before embarking on another three-game road trip to South Carolina on Sunday.

Photo by Scotty Schenck