By Daryl Velez

Coming into the final stretch of the season, the women’s basketball team is changing for the better. The latest example of this was a tight 65-64 win over William ‘ Mary Sunday on the road.

The Huskies took the lead with 2:35 left and staved off the Tribe for the rest of the way, denying William ‘ Mary a final shot with full court pressure on the Tribe’s last possession. Senior guard Shaylese Smallwood tipped out a pass with just two seconds remaining to seal it.

In the Huskies’ last three contests, they are 2-1 – a record that propels them one spot forward in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) from last place to a tie for 10th in the league with Georgia State, a team that the Huskies lost to earlier this year by a slim 77-74 deficit and face again at home Sunday.

In the last two weeks, NU has lost only to the first and second place teams in the CAA (James Madison and ODU). The Huskies have come through with recent wins against the Tribe Sunday and Hofstra Feb. 10.

“Coming off the loss to Old Dominion by [37] points, we had to really stay focused on the games that we can win and have a possibility of winning down the stretch,” said head coach Daynia LaForce Mann.

Northeastern had three players in double figures Sunday: sophomore forward Kim Carr with 10, Smallwood had 13 and sophomore forward Kendra Walton with 16. Carr also worked diligently on the boards, grabbing 11 rebounds in the contest and senior guard Lucia Pablos spread the ball around, netting nine of her own points and assisting six baskets.

“A lot of teams know that we’re guard oriented,” Mann said. “They know that we will penetrate and then shoot the three. So to have a threat inside, that is going to alleviate some of the pressure off of our guards.”

The Huskies rallied to come from behind after a rough open to the second half broke the tightness of the 17-17 tie the teams took into the end of the first half.

With about seven minutes remaining Northeastern trailed by a score of 54-44. The team managed to cut away at the lead and pull ahead on a Smallwood foul shot with two and a half minutes left in the game.

They shot 80 percent from three-point range, unlike their overall 37.5 percent shooting performance in the same time period, accounting for 12 of the eventual 65 points they needed to win.

Mann said part of the rally was due to the clamping down on defense her team exhibited.

“At the point, when we were down by 10, I called a timeout,” Mann said. “Devin James and Kyra [Kaylor] were starting to go off and I said ‘who wants to guard them?’ Lucia Pablos raised her hand and Kim Carr said that she would take Kyra and that was the last time those two were effective.”

The win followed a tough 83-46 loss to No. 13 Old Dominion Thursday. In that game the Huskies were led by Pablos, who shot 6-9 for 14 points in just 23 minutes.

Smallwood also contributed significantly, with 16 points on 6-15 shooting, including 4-7 from the three point line.

Walton chipped in a solid performance as well in the losing effort, going for 10 points and seven rebounds.

Despite a distinct size disadvantage due to ODU’s height, NU was still able to keep the rebound contest close in the game, pulling down 30 boards as a team to ODU’s 38.

The Huskies’ next contest is at home at Solomon Court Thursday against George Mason. Game time is 7 p.m.