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

FAIRFAX, Va. -- The Northeastern women's basketball team (11-6, 4-2 CAA) won its second straight on the road and swept its regular season series with the George Mason Patriots (6-10, 1-4 CAA), erasing an early seven-point second half deficit en route to a 60-51 victory  on Tuesday night at the Patriot Center.

Senior tri-captain Deanna Kerkhof (Wallaceburg, Ontario) led the scoring charge for NU as one of three players in double figures, scoring 16 points. She was joined by fellow senior tri-captains Kashaia Cannon (Providence, R.I.) and Christine Huber (North Babylon, N.Y.), who scored 14 and 10, respectively. Junior Jewel Tunstull led all players on the glass, pulling down 14 rebounds, while Huber added seven.

Sophomore A'lece Mark (Springfield, Mass.) chipped in nine points and a game-high five assists, also swiping a team-high four steals. Classmate Amencie Mercier (Springfield, Mass.) added four points, three assists and a steal. Tunstull and Huber each swatted two shots, giving Tunstull at least two blocks in five straight games.

Rahneeka Saunders led the Patriot offense, scoring 17 points, and Talisha Watts scored seven with 12 boards. The Patriots actually out-rebounded Northeastern 41-28 on the day, but were held to 35.2 percent shooting and a 27.3 percent mark from beyond the arc.

Northeastern connected on 20-47 from the field, good for a 42.6 percent mark, and assisted on 14 of its 20 made baskets. The Huskies shot the lights out from deep yet again, improving on their CAA-best percentage by knocking down 9-21 from three point range, hitting 42.9 percent. The Huskies won the turnover battle, 21-18, and did not allow a blocked shot for the second straight game.

Struggling out of the gate, Northeastern trailed by three at halftime and as many as seven early in the second half. However, for the second time this year against Mason the Huskies used a huge second half surge to pull away and take the victory. NU has now swept its regular season series with George Mason for the third time overall, and first time since the 2008-0 season.

Kerkhof's 16 points leave her three shy of becoming Northeastern's 15th player to join the 1,000-point club, but she did move into 15th all-time with 997 for her career.

After a Mason bucket to open the contest, a long Kerkhof three got Northeastern on the board. The Patriots answered with five straight, before Mercier drilled a triple of her own. The early scoring pace continued to be explosive, and Mason used a 8-0 run to take a 15-8 lead into the game's first media break at 14:03 of the first.

NU came out of the break with a seven point spurt, tying the contest at 15-all before a stop at 11:39. The teams clamped down and traded baskets over the game's next few minutes, before Mason rattled off seven straight to take a 24-18 lead at 6:50.  Kerkhof ended that run with a blow-by lay-in, and Cannon found Mark on a backdoor cut to slim the margin to two, forcing a Mason timeout at 5:56 of the first.

Kerkhof hit her second triple of the day to give NU the lead at 25-24, but Mason's Cierra Strickland responded right back with a long ball of her own, sparking another 7-0 run that sent the Patriots to the final media break of the first half leading 31-25 with 2:42 to play.

A lay-in from Huber ended the Mason run, and a Cannon triple slimmed the lead to three before the half closed with the Huskies trailing 33-30. Kerkhof led Northeastern in scoring in the first, scoring 10 points, while Tunstull pulled down a half-high seven rebounds.

Mason scored the first four points of the second half before Kerkhof  converted a three-point play to make it 37-33 at 18:51. That sparked a 13-0 Northeastern run, leading to a pair of Mason timeouts and send NU to the 14:58 break leading 43-37.

The Patriots responded to the run with six straight, tying the contest up at 43-all and forcing a La-Force timeout with 11:48 to play. A jumper midway through the frame gave Mason its first lead since the half's first two minutes, but a Huber three at 9:16 gave NU a 47-45 lead again, where it stayed at the 7:23 media break thanks to a pair of Tunstull rejections.

Tunstull nailed a hook shot in the paint at 4:53, breaking a more than four minute scoring drought for both teams and giving NU a four-point lead. Cannon followed that up with her second triple of the half, forcing a Mason timeout with 4:01 to play and the Huskies up 52-45. Mark continued the run with a jumper between the stop and the game's final media break, giving NU its largest lead of the day at nine.

Saunders ended the 10-0 Husky run with a long jumper at 2:28, making it a seven-point game. Two Mark free throws sent it back to nine, and strong free throw shooting overall down the stretch for the Huskies sealed their 60-51 victory.

Up next, the Huskies head home for a quick turnaround when they welcome the CAA's first place Drexel Dragons on Thursday night. Game time at Solomon Court is set for 7 p.m.