By Daryl Velez
Coming up short is nothing new at this point for women’s basketball: the team has dropped all six of its most recent decisions, dating back to the last day of 2007. The Huskies are winless in five games against Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) opponents and now sport a dismal 5-10 overall record.
But thoughts of the beginning of the season are not entirely gone. Wins came early for the home team, as they defeated Coppin State, UMass, Dartmouth, New Hampshire and Stony Brook. They also came close in losses to Boston College (78-73), Virginia Commonwealth (77-65) and most recently, Jan. 17, Drexel (71-66).
In its loss to Drexel Thursday, NU fell short because of the less than three percent difference in percentage of shots that fell.
Northeastern was outshot 49.1 percent to 52 percent from the floor in the game.
“It was a close game,” said head coach Daynia LaForce Mann. “We lost by five points and were down by three with four seconds to go. We made a crucial mistake that cost us in the end.”
Drexel had three players in double figures and one on her way to achieving the mark while the Huskies had three of their own in the game reach that figure (senior forward Stefanie Hodell with 13, senior guard Shaleyse Smallwood with 11 and sophomore forward Kendra Walton with 12).
“Our post players are stepping up a little bit more and as they’ve scored more points they’ve become the focus of our offense,” Mann said. “In the beginning we actually relied a lot on our guards, but that’s how we have to change. We just have to be better at boxing out.”
The second loss of the weekend road trip wasn’t as becoming. Northeastern lost to Delaware 67-54 Sunday. In that contest NU was out-rebounded. Allowing 18 offensive boards against any team is enough to force a loss, even against a team that now holds a 2-3 mark in the CAA and a 3-14 overall record.
“They had 18 offensive rebounds. We’re not completing our task in our possessions,” Mann said.
The Huskies return to Solomon Court tonight at 7 p.m. against a tough opponent, Old Dominion, who is ranked 15 out of 20 in national polls.
“It is an opportunity to play a team like [ODU]. It is going to give our program a heads up in terms of where we have to go in order to compete on that level,” Mann said. “We’re going to play hard.”
