By Joe Rubin
After bling-blinging the past two weeks with four straight wins, the Husky’s streak ended at Stony Brook. Still, they managed to split the weekend series by smacking the University of New Hampshire, knocking them down by 17 points.
Sophomore Francesca Vanin bounced yet another double-double, hitting 14 points and nabbing a season-high 14 rebounds. Junior Melissa Kowalski netted 17 points to avenge a 63-58 loss from earlier in the season.
An even opening to the game lead to a contest of consistent skill up and down the court. It did not take long, however, once UNH (7-13, 2-7 America East) took out Maren Matthias, who had 19 points and 19 rebounds in their last meeting. A 7-0 run gave the Huskies (8-13, 6-4 AE) the lead.
Rebutting NU’s run, the Wildcats netted two threes back to back, which narrowed the Husky lead to 26-24 with a little more than four minutes left in the half. The Huskies would dominate and outscore the Wildcats 12-2 in the final four, however, and enter the half with a 38-26 lead.
“I like where we are defensively, but we need to change where we are offensively,” said Northeastern coach Willette White.
The Huskies have held five out of the last six teams to 35 percent shooting or less.
The Huskies carried their first half momentum into the second, outscoring UNH 14-8. Twice taking a 21-point advantage, the Northeastern women played tough, and never allowed UNH to come any closer than 13.
Stony Brook (6-13, 4-4 AE) ended the Husky winning streak, giving Northeastern their only loss in the past six games. Freshman Katarina Andersson tacked up her second double-double of her career. Anderson received America East Co-Rookie of the Week honors for her effort.
“We were flat, that’s all. That’s a game we should have won, bottom line,” said White. “We cannot afford to not have that energy level.”
The Huskies started the contest taking the lead straight away, with freshman Michelle Decerbo draining two baskets and sophomore Lizzie Demor netting a nice three. The Seawolves did not wait long to decide to comeback, going on an 8-2 run to take the lead 10-7.
Stony Brook dominated the boards, taking the first 10 rebounds of the game. However, they lost a great deal of their rebounding strength when their center Bojana Botetic landed her third foul, placing her on the bench until the second. Andersson then took over, giving the Huskies a 26-23 halftime lead.
The second half made for some drama, with the Huskies leading for awhile before the Seawolves made their final move, tying the game at 42 with less than 10 minutes to play. Decerbo, who hit what would be Northeastern’s last two points with a lay-up, gave the Huskies a 55-54 lead. It wasn’t enough, as NU fouled Sherry Jordan, allowing the Seawolves the opportunity they would need to win, 57-55.
After the recent winning spurt, the women’s basketball team will have a good chance at playing in the America East tourney.
“The next six opportunities are really critical in America East,” White said. “We’re just trying to get ourselves where there are no questions that we’re in the America East tournament.”
