The Northeastern women’s basketball team (2-20, 1-13 CAA) suffered a tough loss to the Towson Tigers (9-16, 7-7 CAA) 67-51 at home Feb. 21. 

Northeastern was up at halftime by one but by the end of the game, the Huskies just didn’t have much left in the tank with only six healthy players. Graduate student guard Bailey Williams was seen on the sideline with a boot, and redshirt sophomore guard and the team’s top scorer, Abby Jegede, was also out. 

Freshman forward Alyssa Staten had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Redshirt junior guard Natalie Larrañaga had 14 points, and sophomore guard Yirsy Quéliz had 12. 

The first quarter got off to a slow start. The Tigers struck first with back-to-back layups, and it took over three minutes for the Huskies to score their first point, which came off a foul shot. 

Out of a media timeout, both teams exchanged layups before another timeout was called with just under five minutes remaining. Staten then scored her first points of her game off a layup, but Towson then hit a wide-open three to increase their lead to 9-5. Both teams exchanged a jumper and layup each with just over a minute-and-a-half left remaining to bring it to 13-9. 

The final points of the quarter came off a layup for Towson with 49 seconds left to end the quarter 15-9 Towson. 

The second quarter was a totally different story for the Huskies. They were having much more success in sinking shots and forcing Towson to commit more turnovers, pushing them to four. Larrañaga sank a shot to open up scoring in the quarter. The next points came over a minute later off a layup for Towson. Larrañaga made another shot before a series of back-and-forth action brought the score to 24-20 Towson, and Northeastern used a timeout. 

After the timeout, Staten was sent to the line and sank both her foul shots, which was followed with a three-pointer by senior guard Camille Clement to put the Huskies in the lead, 25-24. With just under two minutes, Towson was sent to the line and sunk both shots to go back ahead. Northeastern got the last hit with a layup by Staten to go back ahead 27-26 into halftime. 

Although the third quarter stayed close, the Tigers pulled ahead due to Northeastern struggling to make shots. Quéliz was a strongpoint for the Huskies, firing transition shots and setting up her teammates to score. Towson opened up scoring with a jumper, three-pointer and two foul shots to take a 35-27 lead. 

Northeastern scored its first points of the second half over three minutes in off a jump shot from Larrañaga, but it was quickly answered back with another jumper to put the Tigers up 37-29. 

After over two minutes of no scoring, the Huskies went on a scoring streak of their own to keep the game close. A foul shot, a transition layup and a transition jumper cut the Tigers’ lead to 37-34 with just over two minutes remaining.

Both teams exchanged baskets to keep the lead even until a Towson layup was answered with a deep three-pointer by Quéliz to cut the lead to 41-39. Yet, the Tigers struck last with a jumper to stay ahead 43-39. 

Although they kept their fight up, the exhaustion from a lack of depth on the bench shone through in the fourth quarter for the Huskies, suffering their biggest score deficit and most turnovers of any quarter of the game. 

The Tigers hit back-to-back three-pointers, followed by a wide open layup to start the quarter off up 51-39. Staten scored a layup for the Huskies’ first points of the quarter three-and-a-half minutes in, but it was answered with two foul shots by Towson. 

The Huskies hit back-to-back shots to bring the score to 53-45, but a Northeastern foul sent the Tigers to the line to sink both shots and maintain a 10-point lead. After Larrañaga hit a transition layup for the Huskies, the Tigers went on a seven-point run to increase their lead to 65-47 with just over a minute to go. 

Both teams exchanged shots to bring it to 67-49. Clement got the final points of the game off a layup to end it with a score of 67-51 Towson. Despite the loss, the Huskies continued to battle with only six players to sub in, and had a much better showing than their 79-43 loss to Towson Jan. 17. 

The Huskies are back in action Feb. 28 on the road against the William & Mary Tribe (10-15, 7-7 CAA), hoping to get their revenge on the Tribe after losing to them 74-66 earlier this season.