After splitting their first two contests at home, the women’s basketball team traveled to Connecticut to participate in the Coca-Cola Charity Classic in Bridgeport, Conn. last weekend. As was the case in the home games, the results were mixed.
Northeastern won the third place game against Fairfield University at the Arena at Harbor Yard Sunday by playing consistently at both ends of the floor for the duration of the entire game. The same statement could not be made for Saturday’s affair against Georgetown, which saw the Huskies blow a six-point lead with a little over 15 minutes remaining.
“I’m happy we got away with a split. That was really important for us,” said NU head coach Willette White, whose troops went to 2-2 on the young season.
As has been the case all season long, Northeastern got out to a good start, and carried a 35-33 lead into the half. The visitors shot 48 percent (12-25) from the field in the first half, while holding FU to a 10-34 (29.4 percent) showing. Dash shot 5-11 from the field in the segment, while the rest of her team went 5-23.
What separated this game from the rest was the Husky performance in the second half. Northeastern opponents were torching the squad for 51 points in the second half; Fairfield could only manage 30. In fact, NU made a run of their own, going up 54-49 after an 11-3 run. The stags would counter, but an Aisha Williams (12 points) three-pointer with 4:12 remaining put Fairfield away for good.
“Fairfield was an example of us putting two halves together. We were pretty consistent for both halves at both ends of the floor,” White said.
Though the host’s zone defense appeared to frustrate the Huskies at times (25 turnovers), NU did a good job of distributing the basketball, which led to some good looks at the basket. Spending the last eight minutes of the game in the bonus (15-21 free throws in the second) didn’t hurt either.
White says that many of the turnovers were more self-inflicted than anything else, noting that “I don’t know that their 2-3 zone frustrated us. It’s just that we weren’t making good decisions with the basketball.”
Junior captain Melissa Kowalski led a balanced NU attack with 21 points. Francesca Vanin (13) and Williams also scored in double figures for the Huskies. Sophomore forward Cathy Dash scored a game-high 27 points for the Stags, who fell to 1-3 on the season. Joi Jefferson was the leading rebounder (eight) for the Huskies, who were outrebounded 43-38, 21-8 offensively.
Saturday’s game was not as uplifting. Entering the second with a 36-29 advantage over the Hoyas (3-0), a 17 point run that spanned 3:14 concluded with a Nok Duany (15 points) layup. Mary Lisicky (21 points, 6-12 three-point attempts) was the catalyst for the push, netting three treys, two steals and an assist.
“We had a really good first half,” White said. “We were taking care of basketball, were kind of the aggressor, and got them in a little bit of foul trouble. In the second half we came out flat, and everything we did in first half we got away from. We sent them to free throw line a lot in second half.”
Freshman guard Maralene Zwarich led four NU players in double figures with 19 points. Williams had 13, senior captain Lori Newsome had 12, and Kowalski had 11, while drilling three three-pointers.
Northeastern was outrebounded in both contests, as they were without Katarina Andersson and Milena Ninkovic. Consequently, White views rebounding and concentration as keys to maintaining some consistency.
“One of our key weaknesses is keeping people off the offensive boards. We’ve got to keep people off of them, because we will be facing a lot of good rebounding teams this year and it could really hurt us if we don’t capitalize on that.
“It’s more encouraging to have the lead to end on the game, but I see a lot of potential,” she said. “If we can find a way to maintain our consistency for an entire game, we will be okay.”
