Northeastern women’s basketball (0-3, 0-0 CAA) lost in its home opener against the University of New Hampshire Wildcats (4-1, 0-0 America East), 58-31 Nov. 14, its third consecutive loss of the season. 

The Wildcats won the tipoff, but Northeastern’s defense was on lockdown, forcing the Wildcats to turn over the ball off a shot clock violation. A quick foul by Northeastern’s graduate student guard Maddie Vizza gave the ball back to the Wildcats and led to a layup by junior forward Lucia Melero Sabat. 

A turnover by Northeastern put the ball right back in the UNH’s hands, but a block by freshman forward Taylor Holohan led to a jump ball and Northeastern possession. An assist from redshirt sophomore guard Abby Jegede to Holohan for a layup gave the Huskies their first points of the night and tied the game at 2-2. 

The Wildcats scored the next points of the game from a layup by sophomore guard Maggie Cavanaugh off a second-chance rebound, but Jegede quickly added two points of her own off a layup to bring the game to 4-4. 

Sophomore guard Eva DeChent came back with another layup to put UNHin the lead 6-4 before a flurry of turnovers for both teams. A foul by Northeastern’s redshirt junior guard Natalie Larrañaga gave possession back to New Hampshire and led into the first media timeout. 

Quickly out of the timeout, junior guard Avery O’Connor got a shot up in the paint to increase the Wildcats’ lead to 8-4. Both teams exchanged turnovers before a foul by senior forward Belen Morales Lopez sent Northeastern’s sophomore guard Yirsy Quéliz to the line in her first game of the season after recovering from a concussion. Quéliz missed her first shot but drained the second to bring the score to 8-5 UNH with 3:08 left to go in the quarter. 

A series of missed shots by both teams left the score tied until graduate student guard Sydney Lusher and Jegede exchanged three-pointers. A layup by senior forward Clara Gomez for UNH increased the Wildcat lead to 13-8 as the first quarter came to an end.

The Wildcats began a rampage entering the second quarter, running away from the Huskies entirely. A transition layup by Gomez gave the Wildcats the first points of the quarter before a foul by Sabat sent senior forward Asha Parker to the line. After missing her first shot, Parker made the second for Northeastern’s only point of the quarter to bring the score to 15-9 Wildcats. 

A series of turnovers occurred for both teams until a turnaround jumper for Gomez in the paint started the Wildcats’ scoring streak. A costly foul by freshman guard María Sánchez Pitarch sent DeChent to the line, where she sunk both shots to increase the Wildcats’ lead to 10 points with just under six minutes left in the quarter. 

Parker traveled before lockdown defense by Quéliz sent the ball out of bounds. Energy spiked for the Huskies for a moment but was quickly deflated by DeChent being sent to the line and sinking both her free throws to bring the score to 21-9 UNH. 

Quéliz delivered a successful loft pass to Parker in the paint who was fouled going up for the layup. Parker missed both shots from the line before Cavanaugh did the same for UNH. 

Off of Cavanaugh’s missed free throw, Gomez got the offensive rebound and DeChent went up for an uncontested layup to bring the score to 23-9 and force Northeastern to use a timeout. 

The timeout was not enough to get the Huskies back on track, and the Huskies suffered from another costly foul that sent sophomore forward Sharmela Reid to the line where she sank both to bring the game to 25-9 with 3:57 remaining. 

DeChent was again an unstoppable force, scoring a layup through contact to give the Wildcats a 27-9 lead. The heartbreak continued for the Huskies from a three second violation in the paint, a foul and a travel. Pitarch was sent to the line after being fouled by Cavanaugh but failed to capitalize and missed both shots. A lack of defense led to an open layup for Reid for the last points of the quarter, leaving the Wildcats lead at 29-9. 

Northeastern started with the ball in the second half and after turnovers by both teams, successfully scoring the first basket of the third quarter. A steal by graduate student guard Bailey Williams got the ball to Holohan for a transition layup. 

The Wildcats quickly went on a six-point streak, then a missed jumper by Quéliz and a foul by junior guard Diana Eliasson ended with the ball back in the Huskies’ hands. A beautiful layup by Jegede slightly cut the lead for the Wildcats. The Wildcats then added back-to-back layups, forcing the Huskies to use another timeout as the score increased to 39-13 in the last two minutes of the quarter. 

Quéliz was fouled on the way up out of the time out, leaving her to shoot two. She sank both and while UNH was quick to answer back with a layup, she drained a three-pointer to bring the score to 41-18. 

Right before the buzzer, Sabat managed to score a wide open layup as the defense was pulled away from the paint, leaving the score at 43-18 UNH as the game moved into the fourth quarter. 

The first points of the fourth quarter were scored off another open layup, this time by DeChent. On the Huskies’ fourth foul of the quarter, only two minutes into the quarter, Sabat had an and-one to give UNH a 30-point lead. 

O’Connor added a layup that was quickly answered with a jumper by Quéliz. Pitarch fouled Cavanaugh to put the Wildcats into the bonus only three minutes into the quarter. Cavanaugh missed the first and made the second to make it 51-20. 

Quéliz struck again with her second three-pointer of the night before two fouls and a turnover by Parker sent Reid to the line for four shots where she made three. The Wildcats led 54-23 into the last media timeout of the game. 

A costly turnover by Larrañaga led to a three-pointer by O’Connor as the beating continued. Both Holohan and junior guard Aina Roque Sucarrats went to the line and made one basket each before Larrañaga was fouled and made both to bring it to 58-26. 

The game remained scoreless for two-and-a-half minutes before a three-pointer by Jegede ended the streak with less than a minute left in the game. Jegede struck again with a buzzer beater layup to end the game 58-31 UNH. 

The Huskies hope to pick up their first win of the season against Harvard (4-1, 0-0 Ivy League) Nov. 19 in Cambridge.