Box Score
Post-game interviews (Daynia La-Force and Deanna Kerkhof) | GoNUxstream game recap

BOSTON -- Senior captain Deanna Kerkhof (Wallaceburg, Ontario) paced all scorers with 21 points to lead a balanced attack for the Northeastern women's basketball team (5-2, 0-0 CAA) as it cruised past the Crusaders of Holy Cross (4-4, 0-0 Patriot League), 70-48, for its fourth straight win on Wednesday night at Solomon Court.

The win marks NU's sixth straight at the friendly confines of the Cabot Center, dating back to last season, and its seventh of eight overall at home. All seven of those wins have come by double digits. The Huskies have now won their first three home games of a season for the first time since 2009-10.

Another outstanding defensive performance, the Huskies opened the game on a 17-2 run and never looked back. NU has now held five of its first seven opponents to 50 points or less, and all five have been stifled to 20 or under in the first period.
Northeastern never trailed for the second straight game, and held a double digit lead the entire second half.

Overall on the day, Northeastern was 26-58 from the field, good for 44.8 percent, and shot 8-26 from behind the arc. The Red and Black held HC to 35.7 percent from the floor and a paltry 5-24 from distance. They also forced 25 Crusader turnovers, in large part due to a season-high 16 steals, led by a career-high five from Kerkhof.

Joining Kerkhof in double figures on the score sheet were sophomore A'lece Mark (Springfield, Mass.) who dropped 14, and junior Jewel Tunstull (Brooklyn, N.Y.), who scored 12 on 6-6 shooting to go with a game-high seven rebounds. Mark also chipped in four steals and three assists. Sophomore Amencie Mercier (Pierrefonds, Quebec) scored seven points and tied a career-high with five rebounds, and freshman Samantha DeFreese (Bergenfield, N.J.) added four points, three rebounds and a block.

Senior Kashaia Cannon, the reigning CAA Co-Player of the Week, scored five points, grabbed three rebounds and dished out three assists. NU as a team had 18 helpers in the game, led by four each from Kerkhof and Tunstull. Alex Smith was the Crusaders top scorer with 16 points.

Kerkhof drove the middle for the game's first bucket, laying an open look in. The Huskies jumped out to a 6-2 lead heading into the game's first media stoppage, and the lead stayed there which led to a Holy Cross timeout at 14:03 remaining in the first. A 9-0 run after the stop stretched NU's lead to 15-2, where it stayed at an 11:11 break.

Northeastern continued to dominate the early going with a Tunstull bucket after the stop, before Holy Cross ended what totaled a 15-0 Huskies run. NU's lead stayed at 15 at 21-6 heading into the half's penultimate media break with 7:07 to play.

Holy Cross outscored NU over the first half's final five minutes, closing to within 10 at 30-20 heading into halftime. Kerkhof and Tunstull led all first period scorers, each dropping 10 points in the opening stanza.

The Huskies opened the second half by stretching their lead back to 12, with Tunstull finding Mark then Kerkhof finding Mercier, both for wide open lay-ins. Mark rattled off NU's next four points sandwiching HC buckets, and the game went to the 15:55 stoppage 38-26 Northeastern.

A Huber swat led to a Kerkhof three in transition that pushed the lead to 14, and a Tunstull hook shot had it at 16, forcing a Holy Cross timeout with 13:33 to play. After the under-12 stop, a Kerkhof trey gave NU its biggest lead of the day at 19, and a Mark steal and dish to DeFreese gave NU a 20-point margin at 53-32.

Brisje Malone connected on a triple before an HC timeout, and the Crusaders cut it to 18 before another timeout at 8:03 to play in the game, down 55-37. Kerkhof started to take over for NU down the stretch, scoring five straight points to send NU to the game's final stoppage up 61-42.

A triple from Cannon after the break gave NU another 20 point lead, before Smith responded with a trey of her own and a quick HC timeout. Freshman Onia Webb (Bronx, N.Y.) netted five straight points in the game's waning moments, including her first career three, and the Huskies closed out the victory.

Next up for the Huskies will be a break from the court in favor of the classroom, as NU is off 17 days for finals. They return to hardwood on Saturday, Dec. 22 for a 2 p.m. contest against the University of Massachusetts at Solomon Court.

For those fans who missed last night's contest, a free replay is available ondemand at www.GoNU.com/xstream.