By Daryl Velez
As of yesterday afternoon, the women’s basketball team has dropped eight straight games, including an 85-51 loss to Old Dominion Thursday and a slim 77-74 loss against Georgia State Sunday.
In the team’s loss to ODU, the Huskies crashed the boards to grab 43 total rebounds, reaching a mark the Huskies had not achieved this season prior to the game.
The Huskies grabbed 19 offensive rebounds in the game, a vast improvement from their previous five games in which the Huskies averaged just 9.6 boards.
“I’m very proud of the fact that we got 19 offensive rebounds,” said head coach Daynia LaForce-Mann. “That’s something that we talked about and tried to get them to stay focused on. If other people are getting 19 offensive rebounds, why can’t we get them?”
Despite the outcome of the ODU game, Northeastern came into the game with a slim margin for error, playing a team that leads the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) and is ranked in national polls as the 13th best team in the country.
“It’s ODU, but you know what, our kids played hard,” Mann said. “They played tough and I’m very proud of them. That’s the type of intensity if we have every game, we can win.”
In the second half, ODU slipped away from the Huskies, mainly because of a dip in NU’s shot percentage. The halftime score was 46-31, thanks to ODU forward Jessica Canady’s career best 28 game total (22 at half).
“They played us tough but it is our job to play hard too,” Canady said. “We’re not going to let up on anybody.”
After the loss, Northeastern traveled to Georgia to compete against the Panthers. After the game, GSU moved to 2-5 in conference play and NU dropped to 0-7.
Northeastern had five players in double figures for the third time this season, yet could not pull out a win. Freshman guard Jasmine Crew led the quintet with 14.
The team also collected 30 total rebounds and won the battle of turnovers, 17-19. The game was a back and forth battle from the first whistle as the teams fought for the lead, cruising into halftime with a Northeastern leading 29-26.
“I told them at the end of the game I’m extremely proud of them,” Mann said. “Their intensity was there, they fought hard, they came back from being down and they really worked hard to get the win. We’re still fighting. We haven’t given up, we haven’t packed it in. We’re still trying to compete. As long as we have that kind of mentality we’re going to get better and we’re going to get some wins.”
Northeastern looks for its first conference win against Drexel Thursday at 7 p.m. in Solomon Court.
“We tend to play better and have more intensity at home,” Mann said. “So having Drexel at home as the beginning of a three game home stretch is important and I think it will really push us over the edge in terms of getting some wins.”
Drexel comes into the game with an advantage, after taking the teams’ first match this season, 71-66, Jan. 17 at home.
The Huskies have 11 games left in the season, all against conference opponents, before the CAA tournament begins in mid-
March.
