The Northeastern women’s basketball team (1-1, 0-0 CAA) picked up its first win against the Yale University Bulldogs (0-1, 0-0 Ivy League) 75-64 on the road Nov. 7.
Junior guard Yirsy Quéliz and sophomore guard Morgan Matthews both scored 15 points each to lead the team. Sophomore guard Camryn Collins and graduate student guard Nariyah Simmons each added 14 points, and sophomore center Alyssa Staten led the team in rebounds with nine.
A key difference between Northeastern’s first matchup of the season against LIU and the team’s win against Yale was its discipline, especially in terms of fouling. In the game against LIU, Northeastern had an astounding 30 fouls. Against Yale, it only had 13.
Eighteen seconds into the game, Northeastern struck first with a layup by Simmons. The next two minutes saw no scoring for either team until Yale sank a three-pointer to lead 3-2. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, Simmons was on fire, knocking down two free throws and a transition three-pointer to put the Huskies back ahead 7-3.
After Yale knocked down a jumper in the paint, Matthews had a scoring streak of her own, knocking down two free throws and hitting a three-pointer to put Northeastern ahead 12-5. Yale scored off a fast break layup. Both teams had players sent to the line and made a layup each before, with the score 15-11 Northeastern, the Huskies scored three points to lead 19-11. Yale knocked down two free throws with 21 seconds left in the first quarter, but freshman guard Kailee Beaudion-Foliaki hit a jumper in the paint at the buzzer to boost Northeastern’s lead to 21-13.
The second quarter kicked off with the teams going basket-for-basket until Collins hit two free throws, a transition layup off a steal and a three-pointer to increase Northeastern’s lead to 34-19 with just under six minutes remaining in the first half. Yale answered back with a jumper, a three-pointer and a layup of its own before the teams exchanged baskets once again, leaving Northeastern in the lead 36-28 with under three minutes to go.
Back-to-back layups for the Bulldogs cut Northeastern’s lead down to four, and the teams exchanged two baskets each to keep Northeastern ahead 40-36 at the end of the second quarter.
As the third frame opened, Simmons once again took the first points of the quarter off a layup, but Yale came out firing. Seven consecutive points put the Bulldogs ahead 43-42 with just under eight and a half minutes remaining in the third quarter. Simmons’ free throws were answered with a layup from Yale, but Simmons fired off a three-pointer to put Northeastern back ahead 47-45 with under eight minutes to go.
Yale sank two free throws, but a Quéliz three-pointer and a jumper by Collins increased Northeastern’s lead to 52-47 with just over six minutes left. The game then saw no scoring from either team for over three minutes until a sole free throw for Collins broke the streak. Northeastern went on to add 10 consecutive points to put them ahead 63-47 at the end of the third quarter.
With Yale not scoring for the last seven minutes of the third quarter, the Bulldogs finally opened up scoring in the fourth quarter nearly a minute in with a three-pointer. The teams went back-and-forth until Northeastern led 68-56 off a free throw by Staten. It then took another minute and a half for either team to score before they both exchanged layups. About two minutes later, the teams exchanged jumpers to bring the score to 72-60 Northeastern with two minutes to go.
Matthews scored a layup off a second-chance rebound before the Bulldogs notched four consecutive points. Unfortunately for them, the Huskies could not be stopped. A foul shot by Beaudion-Foliaki with 19 seconds remaining was the last point of the game, handing Northeastern the win, 75-64.
The Huskies are back in action at home Nov. 11 against the Boston University Terriers (0-2, 0-0 Patriot League) at 2 p.m. Last year, the Huskies lost to the Terriers 60-48 in the first game of the season.
