By Sarah Metcalf

The Northeastern women’s basketball team came back after a tough loss in their season opener to take both Quinnipiac and Fairfield in a convincing fashion at home last week.

In their second home game of the season on Sunday, the Huskies showed dominance in a comfortable 74-49 win over Quinnipiac. Sophomore guard Marlene Zwarich led the team with the first double-double of her career, scoring a personal best 28 points and nabbing 16 rebounds. Zwarich also went 10-for-19 shooting and 8-for-8 from the free throw line.

The Huskies also got double-digit scoring from sophomore forward Michelle Decerbo and senior guard/forward Joi Jefferson. Decerbo picked up 16 points, and Jefferson scored 12 and grabbed nine rebounds.

NU seemed to have a handle on the game from the start, making 45.5 percent of attempted field goals and taking a 13-point lead into half-time. In the second half, the Huskies didn’t let up, extending their lead to 25 with 10 minutes left. NU went 23-30 from the line, and allowed only one Quinnipiac player to score in the double digits — junior Helen Ridley, who had 16 points and went 6-12 shooting.

“At Quinnipiac, we played hard,” said coach Wilette White. “We rebounded well, we ran the floor well, we put pressure on them for 40 minutes, and they couldn’t handle out transition. It was huge for our confidence and for our kids believing we can get this done.”

The Huskies’ first win of the season came the previous game, the home opener Wednesday night at Solomon Court against Fairfield University. NU managed to hold off a late surge to take the victory, 68-58. The Huskies had an impressive three players in double digit scoring, with Jefferson, senior guard Melissa Kowalski, and Zwarich each scoring 13 points. Jefferson also added six assists, and freshman guard Jody Burrows made an impact by dishing out five assists.

The Huskies had control in the first half, taking a six-point lead into the locker room, 33-27. Throughout the second, it looked as if NU would take the game without trouble, having a 52-40 lead with just over eight minutes left in the contest.

Fairfield wasn’t going to go down without a fight, though, going on a 12-2 run and getting junior forward Francesca Vanin in foul trouble, putting themselves within two and leaving NU without one of its top scorers.

Clinging to a four-point lead with only 2:15 left in regulation, Jefferson stole an inbound pass, made the layup, was fouled, and converted the ensuing shot from the line to give the Huskies a seven-point lead and peace of mind, swinging the momentum back into their favor for good.

“We came back against Fairfield [after the opening loss] and we rebounded better, we took care of the ball better,” White said. “That game was huge for us, because it showed that we had grown up a little. In the past, we might have lost that game. It was nice to show us our growth and maturity.”

The Huskies traveled to Kingston, R.I. on Saturday to take on URI, but the Rams came ready to play with senior guard Denise King scoring a game-high 20 points, and three Rhode Island players scoring in double figures, leading URI to a 68-43 win.

Both teams played evenly for the start of the game. With the game tied 21-21, URI scored 11 unanswered points in the last seven minutes of the first half to give the Rams the advantage heading into the break. Then, at the start of the second half, Rhode Island went on a 16-4 run, extending their lead to 48-25 and taking any trace of momentum that was left away from the Huskies.

Vanin went 7-for-11 and scored a team-high 15 points, while Jefferson contributed nine points and four assists.

Although White was happy with the wins, she knows that her team still has a long way to go.

“Everything needs a lot of work; we’re nowhere where we want to be,” White said. “It’s about getting better on a daily basis, and in the big scheme of things we haven’t done much. But we have the opportunity to play two games at home against quality opponents. We play Providence and Harvard at home, and then UMass, which are three quality opponents in the next week. This upcoming week is going to give us an idea of where we’re at. We need to play better than at Quinnipiac and Fairfield because we’re playing better opponents.”

The Huskies now stand at 2-1, and they pick up action again on Monday, when they travel to face Big East school Providence at 7:30 p.m.