Box Score Box score

Northeastern's second-half surge came up just short as the Huskies fell to Delaware, 74-66, in the first round of the Virginia 529 College Savings Plan CAA Women's Basketball Championship Thursday night in Upper Marlboro, Md.

Freshman Jewel Tunstull led the Huskies with a career-best 20 points, going 6-of-6 from the field and 8-of-10 from the charity stripe. Junior Dani Iervolino posted a career-high 14 points, going 4-of-6 from beyond the arc while classmate Jamie Conroy added 10 points and a team-best five assists. Sophomore Christine Huber posted nine points while fellow sophomore Deanna Kerkhof added eight points and a team-high five rebounds.

Elena Delle Donne led the Blue Hens with 18 points while Jocelyn Bailey chipped in 14 points. Danielle Parker, Lauren Carra and Meghan McLean all added nine points for Delaware who will advance to play Old Dominion tomorrow in the semi-finals.

Northeastern jumped out to a 5-0 lead early in the first half with a trey from Kerkhof and a Huber jumper before Delaware got on the board with a jumper from Carra. Neither team could hold more than a three-point lead as a Delaware layup knotted the game at 16-16 with 13:07 on the clock. Northeastern regained the lead with a three from Iervolino before the Blue Hens went on a 9-0 run and the Huskies were held scoreless for over ur minutes.

The Huskies got back on the board with a free throw from Conroy at the 7:27 mark and then a pair of shots from the charity stripe from Tunstull cut the deficit to 28-22 with just under seven minutes to play. Conroy notched a layup to maintain the six-point difference, but the Huskies failed to score for the remainder of the half, as Delaware extended its advantage to 44-24 by the end of the half.

Tunstull scored the first four points of the second half for Northeastern, as the Huskies began to chip away at the Blue Hens' lead. The Huskies used a 12-7 run to bring their deficit down to 11 points with just over 12 minutes left in the half. The Blue Hens began to pull away Bailey converted a three-point play to put Delaware back up by 14. Northeastern did not let the Blue Hens pull away and managed to cut the score to single digits, 63-54 with a layup from Conroy at the 4:54 mark.

Huber netted a pair of free throws and Tunstull posted a layup to bring the Huskies within five points with 3:46 to go. Delaware regained a double-digit advantage and pushed its lead out to 12 points with just over a minute to play. Tunstull then brought the margin down to nine with a three-point play but two free throws from Carra sealed the victory for the Blue Hens' as Iervolino buried her final three with a second left on the clock to close the 74-66 decision.

Northeastern's strong second-half left the Huskies with a 52.4 shooting percentage from the floor (22-of-42), while Delaware posted a 37.3 percent mark (25-of-67) from the field. The Huskies out-scored the Blue Hens' in the second half, 42-30 and tied their season-high with 18 assists.

Delaware out-rebounded Northeastern, 44-23, and held a 26-3 advantage on the offensive glass, leading to 26 second-chance points. Northeastern turned the ball over 17 times which led to 25 points for the Blue Hens, who only gave the ball away nine times.