by Charlie Wolfson, news staff
As the calendar nears March and the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) tournament, the Northeastern women’s basketball team is building momentum at the right time. A 50-41 home win against the University of Delaware on Feb. 17 and a 63-51 road victory at Towson University on Feb. 19 have the Huskies on their first winning streak of three or more games since they won five in a row between Dec. 20 and Jan. 6.
Coming off of a rout of the College of Charleston in their previous outing, Northeastern was looking to keep things going against Delaware on their home floor. They came out on top in a low scoring affair, one that saw them improve in a few key areas.
Throughout the season, the Huskies have lived and died by the three point shot, something that worked to their disadvantage against some of their stronger CAA opponents. Against Delaware, they were 7-15 from three point range, including three makes each from sophomore guard Jess Genco and junior forward Maureen Taggart. Taggart credited her shooting success against Delaware to the quality of the passes she received from her teammates.
“If I know it’s coming, I can get my feet under me ahead of time and just let it fly,” Taggart said.
Taggart was pleased with how Northeastern took care of the ball, which had been a problem in many of their losses this season. They had 16 turnovers in the game but just six in the first half, helping them take a halftime lead.
“I don’t think we had too many turnovers,” she said. “When it came down to it, we took care of the ball.”
The most impressive stat of all, though, is the mere 41 points allowed by Northeastern. They held the Blue Hens to a 26.8 percent shooting day, and contained their leading scorer, Nicole Enabosi, to just eight points.
“We worked a lot on that low post double, and I think it forced them to do a lot of things they weren’t looking to do,” Taggart said.
Head coach Kelly Cole said her team made it a point to apply more pressure.
“We’ve switched things up. We’re putting a little more pressure on the ball,” Cole said. “We’re bringing some doubles on ball screens and in the paint. It’s kept teams out of rhythm.”
The results continued to support Cole’s theory as the Huskies held Towson to just 51 points in their win on Sunday. A major factor in that game was another double-double for senior center Francesca Sally, who scored 24 points, collected 12 rebounds and made four steals. Three Huskies (Genco, Sally, and junior guard Claudia Ortiz) played at least 38 of the 40 minutes against Towson, but Cole thinks that the team is taking necessary measures to ensure that everyone stays fresh as the season nears its end.
“At the end of the season, there is no ‘tired,’” Cole said, with a short laugh. “We do a good job with them during the week, as far as prep goes. We always have Mondays off. Tuesdays, we keep it very light. We have a lot of injuries and we don’t have a lot of extra bodies, so we make sure to do our recovery during the week. I think they’re going to be fine down the stretch.”
Cole was encouraged by her team’s three game spurt, as it seems several of her long-term goals for the team’s performance are now falling into place.
“In those last two games we tied two quarters and won all the rest,” she said. “That’s definitely a step in the right direction for us. Early on, we’d dig ourselves a hole, then win the next quarter, then lose the next. In the past couple games, we have [had] much more consistent scoring.”
The team’s consistency, coupled with a favorable upcoming schedule, has Cole optimistic about the stretch run.
“We played the top three teams in the conference early in the season. We’re looking at the remainder of our schedule all as very winnable games,” she said. “We’ve found that ‘together piece.’ We’ve got a lot of people in the scoring column, so we have options. We have a few freshmen who are now ready to give us minutes. I think we’re in a really good place now going down the stretch.”
Photo courtesy Jim Pierce, Northeastern Athletics
