The women’s basketball team opened its season Friday with a 70-52 loss to St. John’s in Queens, N.Y.
Sophomore guard Jasmine Crew led the way for Northeastern (0-1) with 14 points. Senior guard and co-captain Ashlee Feldman scored five points, including her 1,000th career point, making her the 14th player in Husky women’s basketball to accomplish the feat.
“She’s definitely going to be an asset for us this season,” head coach Daynia La-Force Mann said of Feldman. “Her ability to shoot the ball is unlike any player I’ve ever coached. The one thing about Ashlee is she doesn’t settle for the three-point shot, she’s gaining the confidence, [and] becoming more of a slasher and more of a leader.”
Feldman said she was glad to put the milestone behind her.
“It feels good to get it out of the way,” she said. “It’s not that big of a deal, like it was in high school. I just wanted to get it out of the way and concentrate on other things I want to do,” she said, referencing La-Force Mann’s sentiments about driving to the basket more.
The Huskies jumped out to an early 4-0 lead thanks to a fast break layup by junior forward Kim Carr (8 points, 5 rebounds) and a pair of free throws by Feldman. However, St. John’s then went on an 11-0 run.
“I thought we started pretty tough, we did a nice job,” La-Force Mann said. “We started off with some intensity, [but] as the game went on, we started to miss a couple of shots. The fact that we couldn’t make shots really took away the kids’ confidence.”
Northeastern closed the gap to 20-18 with 10:08 left in the first half when junior forward and co-captain Kendra Walton (13 points, 8 rebounds) sank a layup. However, St. John’s forward Joy McCorvey hit two free throws to give St. John’s (1-0) a 35-25 lead at half.
Despite the loss, La-Force Mann said she felt playing a Big East team provided valuable experience for her young squad.
“The freshmen had a good taste for what Big East basketball is like,” La-Force Mann said. “My goal was to learn some lessons to help us win some games in the conference during the season.”
The Huskies face another Big East opponent when they travel to West Virginia (1-1) Tuesday night for a game at 6:30 p.m. The Mountaineers were 25-8 last season and made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
“It was good for us to play against a Big East team,” Feldman said. “If we can win against West Virginia, it would give us so much confidence. We watched the mistakes we made on film and they’re definitely correctable.”
