After a rough weekend series, the Northeastern women’s basketball team (3-24, 2-16 CAA) picked up its third win of the season against the Elon University Phoenix (15-14, 9-9 CAA) on Senior Day March 6, 49-43.
The Senior Day ceremony honored graduate student guard Bailey Williams and senior guard Camille Clement. Williams previously played at Longwood University before coming to Northeastern this season. Despite her season being plagued by injuries, Williams started 10 of the 18 games she played in. Clement has been with the Huskies since her freshman year. She is currently second on the team in made three-pointers and has been a consistent part of the team finding success.
With still only six healthy players available for the Huskies compared to 13 players for the Phoenix, it was up to the Huskies to build a consistent team effort to pull off the win. Sophomore guard Yirsy Quéliz and freshman center Alyssa Staten led scoring for both teams, with 15 points each. Redshirt sophomore guard Abby Jegede added 14 points of her own, and Clement added the last five points for the Huskies.
Northeastern opened up scoring in the first quarter with back-to-back layups before both teams went back and forth. Northeastern’s scoring was interrupted with a nine-point run for the Phoenix before a final exchange of baskets for both teams brought the end of the quarter with a score 16-10 Elon.
Elon scored seven of their points off turnovers from the Huskies while Northeastern only scored two off an Elon turnover. Elon also outrebounded the Huskies 9-6.
The second quarter was much closer, with Elon just edging the Huskies 11-10. Northeastern’s shooting percentage from the field was a mere 21%, but three made free throws kept them in it. Elon’s showing was not much better, with a 33% shooting percentage. Northeastern managed to make seven second-chance points to Elon’s four and outrebounded the Phoenix 13-9.
With the score 27-20 entering the third quarter, the Huskies needed to keep it close to stay in it. The third quarter was the lowest scoring for both teams, with each team only scoring nine points, despite the Huskies being outrebounded and having more turnovers than Elon. Elon only shot 21%, while Northeastern shot 31% and had eight of their points come from in the paint. After staying even, the Phoenix maintained their lead with a score of 36-29.
With the last home game of the season on the line and down by seven with one quarter left, the Huskies needed to play their best of the game to get their win. Northeastern shot an impressive 72%, making eight of 11 shots, while Elon shot their worst of the game with an 18% shooting percentage from the field.
The Huskies managed to tie the game with five-and-a-half minutes left.
A layup for Elon put them back ahead by one, but with three-and-a-half minutes left, Quéliz fired off a three-pointer to give the Huskies their first lead since the first quarter. From there, the Huskies defense held the Phoenix scoreless. Quéliz’s three was followed with a layup and free throw from Staten and a final layup from Quéliz to give the Huskies a 49-43 win.
The Huskies faced the Hofstra University Pride (13-15, 8-9 CAA) on the road March 8 for their final regular season game, falling to the Pride 69-53.
