Box Score

WILMINGTON, N.C. - Kashaia Cannon scored her 1,000th career point and tied Jewel Tunstull for a game-high 16 points as the Northeastern women's basketball team (15-10, 8-6 CAA) defeated the UNCW Seahawks (3-22, 2-12 CAA), 67-52, on Sunday afternoon at Trask Coliseum.

Cannon (Providence, R.I.) is the 16th player in NU history to score 1,000 for her career, and the second to reach the mark this season. Tunstull  (Brooklyn, N.Y.) supported her 16 points with nine rebounds, while freshman Samantha DeFreese (Bergenfield, N.J.) set new career-highs with 15 points and five rebounds on 7-of-11 shooting. Christine Huber (North Babylon, N.Y.) grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds in a game that saw the Huskies out-rebound the Seahawks, 40-35.

UNCW was led by a 14-point, 14-rebound double-double for Karneisha Garrett, who was one of three seniors honored before the game at UNCW's Senior Day. Dana Brown also chipped in 14 for the Seahawks, and Jessica Freeman scored 10.

Rounding out the scoresheet for NU was sophomore A'lece Mark (Springfield, Mass.) who scored eight points, while freshman Kazzidy Stewart (Lanham, Md.) added four. Northeastern shot 42.1 percent from the floor in the win, holding UNCW to a 34.5 percent mark.

After Chelsea McGowen scored the game's first basket, Cannon got the Huskies on the board on their first possession with a 3-pointer. A Tunstull basket after a block on the other end put NU up 7-4, and after another Cannon triple the Huskies took a 12-6 lead to the 13:57 stop.

The Huskies built on their lead through the first half, jumping ahead double digits for the first time at 19-8 following a DeFreese three-point play with 11:06 remaining. The Seahawks responded with eight straight, pulling back within three and forcing a La-Force timeout with 7:41 to play in the first.

Huber ended the Seahawk run with a jumper, and a pair of Stewart free throws after the 6:52 stop gave NU a 23-16 lead. DeFreese again made the lead double digits with a pair of baskets, but a run of five in a row for the Seahawks forced another La-Force timeout, leading 31-24 with 1:03 to play.

DeFreese closed the first half scoring with a bucket in the paint, giving her a career-high 13 in the opening frame alone, and the Huskies took a 33-24 lead to halftime. NU shot 42.4 percent from the floor in the first half, holding the Seahawks to 32.3 percent, and out-rebounded UNCW 23-18.

The Seahawks opened the second half on a 6-2 run, pulling within five at 35-30. After Tunstull pushed it back to seven, back-to-back UNCW threes forced a La-Force timeout at 17:10 with UNCW trailing by just one.

Four straight from Tunstull, who scored NU's first eight points of the second half, got the Huskies lead back to 41-36 before the 15:54 media break. Mark's first 3-pointer of the day pushed the lead back to seven near the 14-minute mark, and she made it a double digit game at 47-37 with a free throw 90 seconds later.

Two straight buckets for UNCW sandwiching the 11:51 media stop got the Seahawks back within six, before two straight jumpers for Cannon made it 10 again. The second, at 7:45 of the second half, marked Cannon's historic 1,000th point.

NU's lead hovered around ten for the next few minutes, and the Huskies took a 57-46 lead into the final media stoppage (3:58) after DeFreese's seventh field goal of the game. Strong free throw shooting down the stretch pushed the NU lead as high as 15, where it stayed to make the final 67-52.

Game notes:
- NU's 15 wins this year are the most in any under during Daynia La-Force's tenure
- Kashaia Cannon scored her 1,000th career point in the second half, becoming the 16th player in NU history to hit the milestone, and second this year after Deanna Kerkhof on Jan. 24
- Cannon and Kerkhof are the first NU teammates to both hit 1,000 career points in the same season since Maralene Zwarich and Francesca Vanin reached the milestone in the 2004-05 season
- Cannon has hit a 3-pointer in every game this season, and has two more in 21 of 25
- Samantha DeFreese set a new career-high with 15 points
- DeFreese is the second NU freshman to post a double-figure scoring game this year, after Tiffany Montagne tallied 12 vs. UMass on Dec. 22
- Five rebounds also mark a career-high for DeFreese
- Huber's double-digit rebound game is her fourth of the year, first since Dec. 29 vs. Quinnipiac
- Northeastern has now held back-to-back opponents under 40 percent shooting for the first time since Jan. 17 and Jan. 22 at Georgia State and George Mason
- NU's three 3-pointers mark a season-low
- The Huskies set a new season-best, turning the ball over just nine times
- With a March 9 meeting with UNCW still on tap, Feb. 24 marks the latest in a season NU has started a two-game regular season series with an opponent. The previous latest was in the 2007-08, when NU and George Mason met in the regular season on Feb. 21 and March 6.