Box Score
Post-game comments (Daynia La-Force and Deanna Kerkhof)

BOSTON -- It took an extra period, but the Northeastern women's basketball team (9-4, 2-0 CAA) won its 10th straight home contest, improving to 7-0 this year at home, in a 71-69 overtime thriller over the College of William & Mary (2-12, 0-3 CAA) on Thursday night at Solomon Court. With the victory, Northeastern has eclipsed its win total from the last two seasons, both of which ended at 8-22. NU is also now 2-0 in conference play for the first time since joining the CAA.

Northeastern took a four-point lead into the break after trailing most of the first half, but William & Mary battled back to take a two-point lead in the waning moments of regulation. Junior Jewel Tunstull (Brooklyn, N.Y.) forced overtime for NU with a lay-in in the closing seconds of the first half, and strong free throw shooting down the stretch in OT helped deliver the victory for NU.

Tunstull's 16 points led all Northeastern scorers, and she also pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds for her second double-double in her last four games. Sophomore Amencie Mercier (Pierrefonds, Quebec) was one of three other Huskies to join her in double figures on the stat sheet, scoring a career-high 15 points on 6-11 shooting from the field. 11 of Mercier's 15 points came in the second half and overtime, including a pair of game-icing free throws with ten seconds left in overtime.

Also in double figures for NU was senior captain Deanna Kerkhof (Wallaceburg, Ontario), who scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds in a gutsy performance. Kerkhof also turned up her game over the game's final 25 minutes, scoring 12 points in the second half and OT. The guard went 6-6 from the line in the win, all in the second frame and beyond.

Senior captain Christine Huber (North Babylon, N.Y.) chipped in 11 points and five rebounds, and sophomore guard A'lece Mark (Springfield, Mass.), the reigning CAA Co-Player of the Week, stuffed the stat sheet with five points, seven rebounds and a career-high 10 assists. The seven rebounds also tie a career-high, previously accomplished twice. Senior captain Kashaia Cannon (Providence, R.I.) added nine points and four rebounds to round out the scoresheet for the Huskies.

The Tribe were paced by 21 points and seven boards from Emily Correal and 19 points from Janine Aldridge, who buried five three pointers and now has 14 triples in her last two games at Solomon Court.

NU and W&M were consistently even throughout the contest, none more evidenced by a 44-44 tie in the rebounding category. Northeastern shot 41.4 percent from the field, while William & Mary put up  35.9 percent mark. The Tribe held the edge beyond the arc, connecting on 8-24 from deep, with the Huskies hitting 6-24. NU's strongest edges were in assists, 21-14, and free throw percentage. The Huskies sunk 17-19 (89.5%, a new season-high) from the stripe, while the Tribe only reached the line eight times, connecting on five freebies.

Northeastern's seventh straight win at home to open the season ties its longest such streak, set in 2003-04, and the 10th consecutive victory at home, dating back to last year, is one shy of the program record. Mark's 10-assist night marks the first time this year a Husky has reached double-figures in helpers.

The Tribe jumped out to an 11-4 lead early in the first half as the Huskies shot just 2-10 from the floor and committed three early turnovers to start the game. Huber checked in off the bench 5:45 into the half, sparking a 7-2 run that concluded with a Kerkhof three-pointer to bring Northeastern back to within a basket.

After Aldridge drained a bucket from behind the arc to push the Tribe's lead to 23-17 with 6:49 left in the half, Northeastern clawed back to even the score with a 6-0 run thanks to a pair of free throws from Huber and the first field goals of the night for Tunstull and Mercier.

A Correal jumper and two free throws from Aldridge returned W&M's lead to four with three minutes left in the half, but Northeastern closed the half with an 8-0 run to give the Huskies a 31-27 lead at intermission.

Huber and Correal led all scorers at the half with 11 points apiece, while Tunstull followed with eight and tied Kerkhof for the rebounding lead with 6 boards. Overall, the Huskies trailed, 24-23, in the rebounding department after the opening stanza.

Mercier scored Northeastern's first four baskets of the half - capped off with a three-pointer -- to match a ferocious early scoring effort for the Tribe to open the second frame. At the first media timeout at 15:40, the Huskies held a 40-35 lead. Correal sunk a quick three out of the timeout, but Cannon answered with a three of her own to keep the lead at five. Correal then finished off a three-point play to pull the Tribe within two, 43-41, with 14:27 remaining.

The game went scoreless for the next four minutes until Cannon intercepted a W&M pass, drew a foul on the ensuing layup and sunk both free throws to give Northeastern a four-point lead with 10:37 left in regulation. Aldridge answered with a dagger from behind the three-point line and Kyla Kerstetter followed with her first bucket of the game as the Tribe retook the lead, 46-45, 11:54 into the second half.

Cannon put down a layup out of the third media timeout to put the Huskies back on top, 47-46, but Kerstetter drained a three before Kerkhof made a pair of free throws to tie the game at 49 with 6:10 left to play. Tunstull followed with a wide-open layup to make it 51-49 Huskies, but Kerstetter scored her third consecutive basket before Kestler drained a jump shot to give W&M the lead, 53-51, with 4:26 remaining.

Kerkhof continued the ferocious scoring pace less than 20 seconds later when she nailed a three  make it 54-53 Huskies going into the final media timeout. After Kestler made a jump shot to give the Tribe the lead again, Aldridge hit a circus three-pointer from way behind the arc and the shot clock set to expire to push the lead to four with 2:09 remaining.

A pair of Kerkhof makes from the charity stripe cut the lead in half, and the Huskies followed with a strong defensive stop that forced a shot clock violation and regained them possession with 30.3 seconds left to play.Tunstull tied it at 58 with 17 seconds left, and Aldridge missed a last-second layup that would have won the game, sending the contest into overtime.

The rapid back-and-forth pace continued in the extra frame as Kerkhof sunk two free throws and a three-pointer to give Northeastern a 63-62 lead in the opening two minutes. Tunstull added a layup before Boone hit a jumper that pulled the Tribe to within one, 65-64, with 1:27 remaining.

Mark hit two free throws and Tunstull nailed a jumper from the elbow to push Northeastern's lead to five. Aldridge answered with a three to make it 69-67 with 16.9 seconds remaining, before Mercier iced the game with a pair of shots from the charity stripe with 10.4 seconds on the clock, making a last second Tribe jumper moot.

Up next, Northeastern hits the road for the first time in league play when it visits Harrisonburg, Va. to take on James Madison. The Huskies will try for their first ever victory at JMU on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.