The Northeastern’s women basketball team (1-11, 0-3 CAA) lost an extremely close game against the University of North Carolina Wilmington Seahawks (8-8, 2-1 CAA) 51- 48 Jan. 12 at the Cabot Center. The Huskies’ first home win was in sight until costly mistakes in the fourth quarter left them empty-handed.
The first half of the first quarter was some of the best defensive basketball Northeastern has played all season. The Huskies fought for every rebound and their defense kept the Seahawks unsettled, struggling to capitalize on their opportunities.
UNCW started the game with possession after winning the tip but failed to score. A layup from Northeastern’s sophomore guard Yirsy Quéliz put the Huskies on the board first. The Seahawks’ freshman guard Tia Dobson answered with a jumper, but the Huskies were hot. A UNCW travel gave the Huskies the ball and led to a streak of scoring, including two three-pointers by Quéliz and a shot by redshirt sophomore guard Abby Jegede, to put the Huskies up 10-2 with just over six minutes remaining in the first quarter.
Northeastern’s defense began to falter, allowing an easy layup before both teams exchanged threes to bring the score to 13-7 with just over five minutes left. Jegede sank two from the line that were quickly answered with a layup by Dobson. Both teams’ play became undisciplined, as both struggled to score and went on a streak of turnovers. A wide open transition layup by UNCW’s graduate student Ali Zelaya cut the Huskies’ lead down to four and forced them to use a timeout to regather themselves with just over three minutes left.
Out of the timeout, Quéliz found Jegede for a crosscourt assist into a three-pointer. The Northeastern lead was immediately cut down after an and-1 by Dobson and a layup by graduate student guard Jania Hall with two minutes left. For the rest of the quarter, both teams failed to score, leaving Northeastern narrowly up 18-16.
Northeastern fired first in the second quarter with a three-pointer by senior guard Camille Clement. Both teams had turnovers before a three-pointer by Zelaya and two made foul shots by Dobson tied the game at 21-21 with 6 minutes left in the first half. Two fouls on Northeastern players as they were shooting put the Huskies up by three.
Junior Seahawk guard Kate Hollifield hit a three before both teams again exchanged baskets to keep the score tied at 26-26 going into halftime.
Northeastern struck first in the second half with an and-1 by Jegede and a three-pointer for Quéliz. UNCW promptly took a timeout in an attempt to snap out of their funk, but followed the timeout with a turnover and two fouls before gaining a point off a foul shot by redshirt sophomore guard Taylor Henderson. The Seahawks struck twice before Northeastern used a timeout of their own with just less than five minutes left and a 32-31 lead.
Henderson fired a three out of the timeout to give the Seahawks their first lead of the game, which was followed with three more points.
Back-to-back layups by sophomore forward Sophia Carlisle and Jegede cut the UNCW lead to one, but another layup by Zelaya ended the third quarter with a score of 39-36 UNCW.
As the Huskies and Seahawks entered the fourth quarter, it was anyone’s game. Both teams battled until a beautiful transition layup from Quéliz to redshirt junior guard Natalie Larrañaga tied the game at 43 and forced UNCW into a timeout with seven minutes left.
UNCW fought back to a five point lead, but Northeastern immediately tied it up again. Northeastern missed six chances, and UNCW missed three shots, keeping the game tied until a foul shot put the Seahawks up by one. Nearly two minutes of no scoring when they had the opportunity was catastrophic for the Huskies.
With just over one minute remaining in the game, the Huskies took a timeout, but the shooting woes continued. Northeastern missed two more shots and were forced to foul to get the ball back. UNCW’s graduate student guard Evan Miller was sent to the line and sank both her shots, putting the Seahawks up by three with 14 seconds remaining.
Northeastern used its final timeout to plan out their last plays with the game in-reach with only a three point difference. Off an in-bound play, the Huskies tried to hit Quéliz for her fourth three-pointer, but she missed the shot. With five seconds left, Dobson fouled and gave the Huskies another opportunity, but an inbound pass into UNCW’s hands left the Huskies defeated with a final score of 51-48.
The Huskies look to pick up their second win of the season against the Towson Tigers (3-12, 1-3 CAA) in Maryland on Jan. 17.
