College of Charleston
8-12; 3-6
Northeastern
8-13; 3-7
Cougars? Three-Point Volley Off-Target as NU Prevails 52-49
2/6/2016 2:32:00 AM | Women's Basketball
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Despite the College of Charleston women's basketball team (8-12; 3-6 vs. CAA) entering the locker room at half with a nine point lead, Northeastern strung together a big third quarter and squeaked by in the fourth with a final score of 52-49 to halt the CofC winning streak at two.
The Cougars were one shy of matching the program's all-time record for three-pointers attempted in a single game, launching 30 attempts from deep. The effort did not yield the desired results however, as CofC converted on only eight of them (26.7%).
“It was very disappointing in the lack of effort tonight,” head coach Candice M. Jackson said. “30 three-point attempts was not in the game plan. We settled for bad shots at times and they forced us into taking them.”
After a slow first period, the Cougars and Huskies alternated dominant quarters. CofC went first in the second fram, outscoring Northeastern 19-7 to take a 29-20 lead to the locker room at half. NU responded in turn, outscoring the College 17-9 in the third to cut CofC's advantage to one (38-37) heading into the fourth.
At that point, the game went back-and-forth, as the lead changed hands five times in the fourth frame alone. The game was tied with as few as 39 seconds to play, but after a key-CofC turnover, Northeastern's Francesca Sally hit a jumper to take the 49-47 advantage, leading to a Cougar timeout. Zoe Zwerling proceeded to hit three of her four free throw attempts in the closing seconds as the College resorted to intentional fouling, and that proved to be enough.
Kelsey Booth appeared poised to have a big game early on, sinking eight points before the first media timeout of the game. However, foul trouble caught up with her shortly thereafter, limiting her availability to 21 minutes on the night. She managed to finish with a respectable 13-point night on 5-of-11 shooting.
Breanna Bolden and Darien Huff reached double-digit scoring as well, though they struggled with their efficiency from the field, combining to go 9-of-26 with 11 points each. Bolden pulled down six rebounds, and also added a pair of steals, pushing her career-total to 197. Courtney Gardner came off the bench for 16 minutes of action, during which she gathered a team-high eight rebounds.
“The entire first quarter just wasn't good for us,” Jackson said. “We were all over the place and we weren't tough or smart enough. It wasn't who we are, and it wasn't what we needed to do to win games.“
Northeastern's most valuable player was senior forward Samantha DeFreese, who had a resounding 12-17 double-double, pulling down an impressive seven boards on the offensive glass. She also added three blocks and a steal in the win, which raised Northeastern to 8-13 on the year.
The Cougars will have a day off to recalibrate before a Sunday showdown with the Drexel Dragons (12-9; 8-2 vs. CAA).
“We need to get out and contest three-point shooters against Drexel,” Jackson said. “Last time we played them, we left (Rachel) Pearson open way too many times, and no matter what defense we're playing, we need to stay aware of where the best player on their team is.”
Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. in TD Arena.
