Box Score
Post-game comments (Daynia La-Force)

ATLANTA -- Redshirt-senior captain Kashaia Cannon (Providence, R.I.) scored a season-high 21 points to lead the Northeastern women's basketball team (10-6, 3-2 CAA) to a 68-55 victory over Georgia State (9-6, 1-3 CAA) on Thursday night at the GSU Sports Arena.

Cannon's 21 points came on 8-11 shooting from the floor, including a 4-7 mark from three-point range. Fellow senior captain Deanna Kerkhof (Wallaceburg, Ontario) added 19 points, and junior center Jewel Tunstull (Brooklyn, N.Y.) barely missed a double-double with 14 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

Filling out the scoresheet for NU was sophomore A'lece Mark (Springfield, Mass.) who scored four points, grabbed four rebounds and dished out a game-high seven assists. Classmate Amencie Mercier (Pierrefonds, Quebec) scored five points and tied a career-high with five boards, while freshman Kazzidy Stewart (Lanham, Md.) scored three points in her first career start. Senior captain Christine Huber scored two points and grabbed five rebounds off the bench.

Georgia State was led by Cody Paulk, who posted team-highs with 14 points and six rebounds. Also in double figures were Kayla Nolan and Ashley Watson, who each scored 10 points.

The Huskies shot 47.4 percent from the floor on the day, connecting on 27-57 shots, while holding Georgia State to 35.1 percent. NU connected on 8-22 from three-point range, locking the Panthers down to 2-19 from distance. The Huskies held a 38-31 edge in the rebounding category, and dished out assists on 15 of their 27 baskets. They also held a 4-0 advantage in the blocked shot category, holding GSU without a block for the first time this season.

Kerkhof scored NU's first five points, matching an early spurt from GSU's Nolan to make it 5-all three minutes in. Scoring came easily for both teams in the early going, and NU took a 13-9 lead into the games first media break at 14:25.

After the timeout, a pull-up transition three from Cannon gave NU a seven-point lead, and a pair of Mercier jumpers stretched the lead to nine at the second media break of the period. Northeastern stretched its run to 12-2,  capped by a Stewart three, building a 25-11 lead midway through the first.

The Panthers responded by scoring the game's next six points, before Cannon hit a runner to send the lead back to double digits. The Panthers closed to within six at 27-21, but threes from Kerkhof and Cannon again sent the NU lead back to double digits with six to play in the first. Cannon in total went on a 9-0 run by herself, knocking down three in a row from beyond the arc to push the lead to 39-23 at 5:10 of the first.

Georgia State scored nine of the game's next 11 points, leading to a La-Force timeout with 1:12 remaining, up 41-30. Neither team was able to find the bucket after the stop, and the score went to the half there. Cannon scored 16 in the opening frame, knocking down 4-6 from range to lead all scorers. As a team, NU shot 54.8 percent in the first, and a blistering 58.3 percent from distance.

Cannon got the second half underway much like she ended the first, hitting a jumper on NU's opening possession. The teams traded baskets in the opening minutes of the frame, sending the half to its first media timeout with NU leading 47-36.

After the Panthers closed to within seven, Kerkhof scored two straight baskets and made it 11 again, where it stayed at 51-40 for the 10:41 media break. The Panthers stuck around and closed to seven again, but five straight points, capped by a Kerkhof three, gave NU a 56-44 lead at the 7:55 media break.

Overall, a 10-1 run for Northeastern gave the Huskies a 16-point advantage with six minutes left, the largest lead of the day. Georgia State once again responded, scoring six straight to get back within 10, but Northeastern was able to hit late free throws and hold off a GSU surge to close out the 68-55 victory.

Up next, Northeastern closes its two-game road swing with a trip to Fairfax, Va. and a date with the George Mason Patriots. NU is looking to sweep its regular season series with Mason for the first time since 2008-09, after dropping the Patriots, 69-63, on Jan. 6 in Boston. Game-time on Tuesday, Jan. 22 is 7 p.m.