The Northeastern women’s basketball team (6-11, 2-5 CAA) lost to the William & Mary Tribe (9-8, 2-4 CAA) 63-50 at home Jan. 23.
The struggle for the Huskies came from repeated bad passes and mishandling of the ball, leading to 21 turnovers compared to the Tribe’s 13. Northeastern could not get shots to fall from the foul line, repeatedly making only one of two chances from the free throw line. After shooting 87.5% through 24 attempts against Hofstra in their last game, the Huskies fell to 53.3% through 15 attempts against the Tribe.
Junior guard Yirsy Quéliz led the Huskies in scoring with 10 points and sophomore forward Justice Tramble followed behind her with eight points and seven rebounds. Sophomore center Alyssa Staten led the team in rebounds with eight.
After Northeastern started the game with its first of three shot clock violations in the first quarter, the William & Mary bench and fans were loud, energizing the team as it took an early 5-0 lead. A layup by sophomore forward Taylor Holohan and a 3-pointer for Quéliz tied it at five. A putback for Staten and a 3-pointer for graduate student guard Nariyah Simmons propelled the Huskies ahead 10-5 as their defense kept the Tribe scoreless for three and a half minutes. William & Mary hit a three and Northeastern suffered its second shot clock violation before the game headed into a media timeout.
After the timeout, the Tribe took five straight before Tramble hit a layup with 39 seconds left to end the quarter 15-12 William & Mary. Throughout the quarter, both teams struggled with turnovers as each team scored more than half their points on the other team’s mistakes. Unfortunately for Northeastern, the Tribe limited their turnovers the rest of the way while the Huskies did not.
The second quarter started aggressively as the Tribe collected a foul just six seconds in. They then scored eight straight points, forcing Northeastern to use a timeout with six and a half minutes to go.
Just under four minutes in, Northeastern got its first points off a baseline jumper by sophomore forward Maya Summerville. The teams exchanged 3-pointers before Northeastern implemented a full-court press, immediately getting a steal and a layup, forcing the Tribe to take a timeout with the score 26-19 with under five minutes to go. Almost every time the Huskies have implemented a press this season, they see brief success.
After the timeout, the teams remained scoreless for over a minute. Northeastern then took a point off a single foul shot that was answered with a 3-pointer. The Huskies were outscored four to three at the end of the quarter to go into halftime with a 33-23 William & Mary lead. The Huskies were in the bonus with just under three and a half minutes left, but only made two of their four attempts from the line.
The third quarter started with a missed shot, a bad pass and a foul for Northeastern, but they still scored the first points with a layup by Quéliz that was answered by a William & Mary three and a layup.
The Huskies scored back-to-back layups before the teams continued to exchange baskets with the Tribe slowly increasing their lead. With just over two minutes to go, William & Mary took four straight points before a layup by sophomore guard Morgan Matthews momentarily stopped their momentum. A buzzer-beater jumper by Quéliz closed out the quarter to head into the final frame with a score of 49-38, Tribe.
William & Mary took the first three points of the fourth quarter off a layup and foul shot by sophomore forward Natalie Fox. Then, flashbacks of last season came for the Huskies as Summerville was fouled going in for a layup and was visibly in pain from the line. She made one of her two attempts before immediately getting taken out and checked by the trainer. Summerville, who missed the first 10 games of this season and did not play at all last season due to injury, did not return for the rest of the game.
The Tribe hit a layup that sophomore guard Camryn Collins answered with a successful and-one play off a fast break. Unfortunately for the Huskies, William & Mary responded immediately with an and-one to take a 57-42 lead into a media timeout.
The teams matched each other’s moves the rest of the way with Northeastern getting the final points of the game off two free throws by Tramble with 55 seconds left.
The Huskies’ rematch against the Monmouth Hawks (12-5, 5-1 CAA) scheduled for Jan. 25 has been postponed to Jan. 28 at 11 a.m. in New Jersey.
