By John Hagerty, deputy sports editor
The Northeastern women’s basketball team’s non-conference season was marked by adversity as they dealt with injuries and sickness, and lost multiple one-possession games.
As they continue with their CAA schedule into the new year, the team is heading toward full health and is starting to hit their stride on the court.
At the 2017 Beach Classic tournament over winter break, the Huskies found themselves in a highly competitive semifinal game versus New Mexico State University, or NMSU. The teams traded baskets throughout the game; there were eleven lead changes in total.
After the Aggies took a two-point lead with 13 seconds remaining, second-year guard Shannon Todd buried a three-pointer with 6.3 seconds left to seal a 65-64 win. A one-possession game finally went the Huskies’ way after their earlier crushing losses in similar situations to Boston University and Providence.
Head Coach Kelly Cole said the win against NMSU helped her team’s psyche.
“I think it boosted our confidence,” Cole said. “We’ve been doing a lot of the right things but we haven’t knocked down that final shot. Against [NMSU] we executed three or four different plays and we did knock down the shots when we needed to.”
Third-year guard Zoe Zwerling and first-year guard Jasmin Watson have each stepped into expanded roles in recent games as a result of the team’s injuries to second-year guard Ayanna Dublin and third-year guard Te’Erica Eason.
“We had so many injuries, and we talked about the positive side is that so many kids can get a lot more minutes than maybe they would have,” Cole said. “We certainly have [Zwirling and Watson] to count on more within conference play.”
The team has played well to start its CAA schedule, going 2-2 with wins against Towson University and at University of North Carolina at Wilmington. The team’s only in-conference losses thus far have come against Elon, the 2017 CAA champions, and James Madison, which has a 4-0 conference record.
With a busy CAA slate in the coming weeks, Cole is encouraging her team to continue to focus on the fundamentals.
“For us it continues to be the foundations,” Cole said. “The games when we take care of the ball and keep the turnovers down, we consistently come out on top. Our three things right now are turnovers, rebounds and foul shots.”
The Red and Black are now on pace for nine conference wins, an increase from last season’s 8-10 conference record.
Cole emphasized that her program has grown over the years with the current crop of players.
“That’s the direction we want to keep going. I keep saying baby steps in right direction,” Cole said. “Because we’ve got some upperclassmen that have been with me for the past four years, we now have a level of consistency that is the difference maker for us and I think we’ll see that down the stretch.”
The Huskies hope to channel the consistency and momentum they have built during winter break into the rest of the season as they return to Cabot Center Friday to challenge the College of Charleston.
