By John Hagerty, news staff
The Northeastern women’s basketball team lost 98-95 to Providence College Tuesday night after what could only be described as a calamitous fourth quarter collapse.
The Huskies owned the lead for 34 of the 45 minutes in the game, dominating all aspects of the game for the first three quarters.
“For the first three quarters we were on the attack, we followed the game plan,” said head coach Kelly Cole.
With a hefty lead going into the final period, it seemed that the game was decided — the Huskies were going to cruise to an easy victory. All was well in Cabot Center.
However, in the fourth quarter, the Friars flipped the script on the Huskies and took over the game.
“We made a few mental errors and then all of a sudden it was a different ball game,” Cole said.
With the Huskies leading by 20 points with nine minutes remaining, the opposing Friars caught fire, shooting 86.7 percent from the field and 100 percent from three point range as they came back and eventually took a three-point lead with under a minute left.
First-year guard Stella Clark buried a three-pointer to tie the game and send it to overtime. The Friars narrowly outplayed the Huskies in a back-and-forth overtime to seal a three-point win.
The game was Clark’s breakout for the Huskies, as she finished with 28 points and made 6-10 from three-point range.
Among the positives for the Huskies to take from the heartbreaking loss, Cole noted her team’s late-game execution and composure.
“I thought we executed excellent down the stretch; we were under the gun and we hit some big shots to get ourselves back into it,” Cole said. “It’s unfortunate because the kids played a really good game.”
This was the Huskies’ second consecutive loss by one possession, moving their record to 0-2 for the season.
Despite the two losses to start the season, the Huskies are prepared to learn from these first two games and use them as a springboard for the rest of the season.
“We’re going to get our first win and we’re going to be off to the races,” Cole said. “The kids understand what we’re trying to do.”
The Huskies will face Fairfield University Friday at Cabot Center, continuing the chase for their first victory of the season.
