Boston — The Northeastern women's basketball team will tip off its 2013-14 campaign against cross-town rival Boston University on Friday, Nov. 8 at 6 p.m. at Case Gym.
Huskies in season openers
Northeastern is 20-27 all-time in its first game of the season. Under head coach Daynia La-Force, the Huskies are 1-6 in season openers, with the lone win coming against Coppin State on Nov. 9, 2007. This is the seventh time in La-Force's eight seasons that Northeastern will open on the road. Last season, the Huskies opened against Eastern Michigan, dropping a 50-47 decision.
Reliable returns
The Huskies return eight letterwinners from last year's squad, including three starters in lone-senior
Jewel Tunstull and junior captains
A'lece Mark and
Amencie Mercier. Also returning is sophomore guard
Kazzidy Stewart and junior forward
Samantha DeFreese. The duo is expected to make an immediate impact in the starting five.
Onia Webb,
Tiffany Montagne and
Tanisha Hopewell who collectively made 35 appearances throughout the 2012-13 campaign.
Preseason All-CAA honors
Lone-senior
Jewel Tunstull was honored by the conference's coaches, named to the Preseason All-CAA first team.
A'lece Mark joined Tunstull in the accolades, earning a spot on the Preseason All-CAA second team.
Huskies tabbed third
Returning three starters from last year's squad, the Northeastern women's basketball team has been predicted to finish third in the 2013 Colonial Athletic Association preseason coaches poll. The results of the poll were announced at CAA Basketball Media Day at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel in Baltimore, Md., on Oct. 21, 2013. Third place is the highest NU has been projected to finish in the preseason poll under La-Force and places the Huskies above six teams, including 2012-13 CAA Champion Delaware. James Madison earned the top spot in the poll followed by Drexel, who finished last year's slate with a 25-11 record.
Oh, captain my captain
Junior guards
A'lece Mark and Amencie Mericer were named captains for the 2013-14 season. The duo became fixtures in the Northeastern starting five last season, helping the Huskies to their highest conference finish since joining the Colonial Athletic Conference in 2005. Both closed out the 2012-13 season ranked among the top assist leaders in the CAA, with Mark (3.36 apg) finishing third and Mercier (3.4 apg) placing fifth. Both also placed top-10 in steals and assist-to-turnover ratio. Combined, the pair posted 24 double-digit scoring games over their first two seasons, both setting career-highs during their sophomore campaigns. Both guards have played in all 60 games since they arrived on Huntington Avenue two years ago.
Goodbye, farewell
Northeastern will tip off the season without the on-court assistance of the 2012-13 tri-captains
Kashaia Cannon,
Deanna Kerkhof and Christina Huber. The trio made a significant impact on last year's roster as they etched their names in the Northeastern record books. Kerkhof finished tops on the squad and seventh in the CAA with 15.0 points per game, eclipsing the 1,000 point mark on Jan. 24 and ending her time on Huntington Avenue as the program's 14th leading scorer with 1,140 career points. Cannon, a southpaw sharpshooter, finished second on NU with 13.4 points per game, 11th league-wide. The majority of Cannon's damage was done behind the arc, as she knocked down a program single-season record 80 3-pointers on the year, placing 27th nationally with 2.7 trifectas per game and 16th in the country with a 40.8 percent mark from range. Huber now places third all-time in NU history with 116 blocks over the course of her career.
Rookie roll call
The Northeastern University women's basketball welcomes three new student-athletes for the 2013-14 season. Head coach Daynia La-Force will tip off this year having added freshmen DaChé Williams,
Francesca Sally and sophomore
Briana Schnare. The three newcomers will bring a versatile unit to the squad as it looks to win its first CAA Championship. Williams is a 6-2 forward hailing from Bloomfield, Conn., and Sally is a 6-1 center from Denver, Colo. Both will come to Boston after decorated high school and AAU basketball careers. Schnare, a 6-3 transfer from Manhattan College will be essential in helping prepare the team's posts for battle next season, as she will sit out of the 2013-14 campaign per NCAA transfer legislation.
Home-built record
Northeastern went 11-3 on its home floor this year, setting a new program record for home wins in a season. The Huskies opened their home slate with seven consecutive home wins, tied for the longest single-season streak in program history. Of NU's 11 home wins this year, seven were by double-digit margins, and four times at Cabot Center the Huskies won by 20 points or more. All five of Northeastern's top total offensive performances came on its home floor this season.
Leading lady
Jewel Tunstull is coming off a 2012-13 campaign that saw her lead the Huskies in multiple categories. The senior center led the CAA in field goal percentage for the second straight year, posting a 56.4 percentage from the floor and finished 13 in the conference with 12.6 points per game. The Brooklyn native was also fifth in the CAA in rebounding (8.7 rpg) and blocked shots (1.4 bpg). Last season, Tunstull posted a career-high 23 points on Jan. 13 at James Madison, and recorded five double-doubles on the season. She reached double figures in scoring 22 times, posted eight double-digit rebound games and led the Huskies in rebounding on 21 occasion
Commanding the Bay State
With the win over Massachusetts on Dec. 22, 2012, Northeastern closed a three-game sweep over in-state rivals in 2012-13. Previously, the Huskies defeated Boston University on Nov. 20 and Holy Cross on Dec. 5. The last time the Huskies swept a season series with that many Massachusetts schools was a 3-0 sweep over BU (twice) and Harvard in the 1998-99 season.
Sticky hands
Northeastern picked up double-digit steals 18 times last season, forcing 20 or more turnovers on 14 occasions, with a season-high 29 twice. NU led the league and placed 48th nationally with 10.4 swipes a contest. The Huskies won or tied the turnover battle in 10 of their last 14 games, and recorded a season-low nine turnovers at UNCW on Feb. 24. Kerkhof
(2.1), Mark (1.9) and Mercier (1.8) are among the top-10 basketball thieves in the conference, with Kerkhof leading the charge at seventh. Mercier turned in the best individual performance of the year, snagging seven steals at Temple on Nov. 17.
March madness
The Huskies opened their March slate by turning in their two best offensive performances of CAA play, scoring 79 points against Old Dominion on March 3 before pouring in 88 against Hofstra on March 6. Those two outputs marked the second and fourth-most points NU has scored in any game last year, with Rhode Island (94, Jan. 3) and Dartmouth (80, Nov. 27) rounding out the top-four offensive performances. Northeastern had two wins in the month of March during the 2012-13 campaign for the first time since 2008-09, also the last season NU swept both Hofstra and George Mason, as it did last year.
Three's company
Northeastern made at least three 3-pointers in every contest, and knocked down double-digit 3-pointers six times last year. NU connected on 8.0 trifectas a game, the 12th best mark in the country, and hit 36.4 percent of its attempts, 11th nationally. Both of those marks were tops in the CAA. Kerkhof and Cannon led the long ball barrage, finishing in the top-five in the conference and top-35 nationally in both makes and percentage. Cannon hit her 77th 3-pointer of the season on March 9, setting a single season record, finishing with 80. Kerkhof had 72 last season, leaving her four shy of giving NU its two highest single season totals in the same year. As a team, Northeastern hit 239 3-pointers, breaking the former program record (228) set in 2011-12.
Balancing act
Northeastern saw five players hit double figures in the scoring column three times last year, the first three times that has happened since Dec. 5, 2009. It most recently happened vs. Hofstra on March 6. The Huskies also saw four players hit double figures eight times. NU had three players,
Deanna Kerkhof,
Kashaia Cannon and
Jewel Tunstull, averaging more than 10 a game. All three ranked among the top-15 scorers in the CAA, making the Huskies the only team in the league with three players in the top-15. With Kerkhof's CAA Player of the Week nod on March 11, she, along with Cannon (Dec. 4) and
A'lece Mark (Jan 7), made Northeastern the only team in the conference to have three different players receive the weekly award.
Doubling up
After Tunstull's 12-point, 17-rebound output in the CAA tournament, the junior center notched six double-doubles lastyear, a new career- high. The Brooklyn native has 12 in her career, most among active Huskies. Northeastern also saw double-doubles during the 2012-13 campaign from
Christine Huber (2) and
Deanna Kerkhof (1). Kerkhof's 14-point, 11-rebound performance in the season opener at Eastern Michigan on Nov. 11 marked the first of her career. Tunstull has also finished one rebound or one basket shy of a double-double on eight occasions.
Short streak snappers
After bouncing back from two losses to defeat Georgia State on Feb. 21, the Huskies did not allow a losing skid to go beyond two games last year. After dropping back-to-back contests in Miami at the FIU Sun & Fun Classic, NU rattled off three straight victories. Following consecutive losses to James Madison and Delaware, NU went on the road and won two in a row against CAA foes, then the Huskies responded to back-to-back defeats vs. Drexel and Delaware by bouncing back to defeat Towson and Hofstra. NU's biggest rebound from a loss came after falling at Temple on Nov. 17, as they responded by winning five in a row.
Career-highs abound
Nearly all of the Huskies' returners grabbed new personal bests during the 2012-13 season in a variety of categories. Cannon scored a career-best 27 points at William & Mary on Feb. 15, hitting personal bests in field goals (10) and 3-pointers (6). Kerkhof grabbed a career-best 11 rebounds in the loss at Eastern Michigan on Nov. 11 and swiped a personal record five steals against Holy Cross on Dec. 5. She also dished out a career-high seven assists at Delaware on Jan. 29. Tunstull's 23 points at James Madison on Jan. 13 mark a career-best, as did her nine free throws in that game. The center also turned aside a career-best four blocks against Delaware. Mercier set a career-high on Nov. 17 at Temple with seven steals, then dished out a personal best eight assists against Hofstra on March 3. She dropped a benchmark 15 points vs. William & Mary on Jan. 10, one of her three double-digit games this year, the first three of her career. Mark handed out a career- high 10 assists in the W&M win, and grabbed a personal best eight rebounds vs. UNCW on March 10. She scored 19 points against Rhode Island on Jan. 3 to set a new high mark.
#Winning
Northeastern posted its first winning record this year since the 1999-2000 season. Overall, the Huskies have posted 19 winning seasons in their 47-year history, including a program-high seven in a row from 1980-81 to 1986-87.
The best yet
With seven regular season non-conference wins during 2012-13, Northeastern has its most such victories since it began modern conference play upon joining the America East conference in 1997-98. With 10 wins in CAA play last year, Northeastern set a new program benchmark for conference wins since joining the Colonial prior to the 2005-06 season. The previous high was eight, set in 2007-08 and 2009-19. Northeastern's fifth place finish in the league and No. 4 seed in the CAA Championship are both Colonial bests.
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