Game Information: Northeastern (5-6, 0-0 CAA) at Towson (5-6, 0-0 CAA)
When	Friday, Dec. 29  |  7 p.m.
Where	Towson, Md.  |  SECU Arena  |  Directions
Broadcast & Statistics	Stats  |  Video
Game Notes	Northeastern (PDF)
2017-18 Media Guide	2017-18 Northeastern Women's Basketball Media Guide
Social Media	Facebook: GoNUwbasketball Twitter: @GoNUwbasketball Instagram: GoNUwbasketball Use GoNU and RedBlackOnePack

BOSTON – After picking up five victories during the non-conference portion of its regular-season schedule, the Northeastern women's basketball team will turn towards league play and begin its 18-game, home-and-home trek through the CAA on Friday, Dec. 29, when the Huskies descend on Towson's SECU Arena for a 7 p.m. game against the Tigers.
 
ALL-TIME AGAINST TOWSON
 
Northeastern has won three straight games against Towson and enters Friday's CAA opener needing one more victory to level its all-time series against the Tigers at 18-18. The Huskies' last four-game winning streak against Towson took place within their stretch of seven consecutive victories against the Tigers that spanned from Jan. 30, 1999, to the first round of the 2001 America East tournament (March 7). NU is 2-2 when playing at SECU Arena (opened fall 2013) and has won its last two CAA trips to Towson by an average of 15 points.
 
ONE FOR THE THUMB
 
The Huskies' five non-conference wins during the 2017-18 regular season are tied for the most NU has attained during Kelly Cole's four-year tenure as head coach. This season, Northeastern turned in a 5-6 record during its non-conference schedule, matching its 5-6 mark from its 2015-16 – Cole's second at the helm of the Huskies. Northeastern's last achieved a winning non-conference record during the 2012-13 campaign, when the Huskies went 7-4 prior to opening their CAA schedule.
 
TRENDING UPWARD
 
Northeastern's 17 combined CAA victories (17-19) spanning the 2015-16 (9-9 CAA) and 2016-17 (8-10 CAA) seasons are the most NU has ever achieved during consecutive conference campaigns within the league. The Huskies' 17 CAA wins also rank as the sixth most among tenured schools during the same two-year stretch:
 

Rk	School	CAA Wins	Rk	School	CAA Wins
1.	James Madison	32	6.	Northeastern	17
2.	Elon	27	7.	William & Mary	15
3.	Drexel	24	8.	College of Charleston	11
4.	Delaware	20	9.	Towson	8
5.	Hofstra	18		UNCW	8

HUSKIES: RUNNER-UP AT THE BEACH
 
NU concluded its 2017-18 non-conference schedule at the two-day Beach Classic (as hosted by Long Beach State), where the Huskies defeated New Mexico State, 65-64, on Dec. 20 before finishing runner-up to Illinois State, 65-55, during the tournament's championship game on Dec. 21. Northeastern overcame a -10 turnover margin and trailed New Mexico State by as many as eight points (44-36) with 5:34 remaining in the third quarter, but prevailed on Shannon Todd's game-winning 3-pointer with 6.3 seconds left in regulation. Zoe Zwerling led the Huskies during the Beach Classic title game with a career high, 15 points, courtesy of a career best, five 3-pointers, despite NU being able to pull closer than three points (44-41) with 7:14 remaining in the fourth quarter.
 
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
 
Northeastern is currently in the midst of a six-week, 42-day span between games at its primary home venue, Cabot Center, stretching between the Huskies' Nov. 19 victory against Marist (78-72) and their upcoming Dec. 31 CAA home opener against James Madison. NU did manage to squeak in a home game on Dec. 6 at historic Matthews Arena – the home site of the Northeastern men's basketball team – where the Huskies hosted Harvard during a 12 p.m. matinee in front of more than 2,000 Boston Public Schools students.
  
HUSKIES GO GLOBAL
 
On Dec. 18, the Northeastern women's basketball team announced that it will partake in a training trip to Barcelona and Valencia, Spain, during August 2018. The tour will feature two exhibition games against high-level, local competition, in addition to visits to historical sites including Las Ramblas, the Gothic Quarter, Mountjuic Castle, and Gaudi's Segrada Familia in Barcelona. Northeastern's trip to Spain will mark the women's basketball team's first-ever foreign tour, but follow in the wake of the program's first international experience at the 2016 Cancun Challenge (Puerto Aventuras, Mexico), where the Huskies squared off against No. 11/11 Stanford, Purdue, and Wichita State.

HUSKIES BREAK 3-POINT RECORD
 
On a sub-20 degree day in Burlington, Vermont (Dec. 17), Northeastern cranked up the heat inside the Catamounts' Patrick Gymnasium, draining a program record, 15 3-pointers, to break the Huskies' previous record (14), set on Nov. 12, 1991, against Syracuse. NU used the entirety of the game's 40 minutes to break the mark; Jess Genco hit the Huskies' first 3-pointer less than 10 seconds into the game, while Zoe Zwerling popped the record-breaking, 15th 3-pointer with 1:47 remaining in regulation. Northeastern shot 44 percent from behind the arc (15-for-34) during its 71-66 win and even received a little luck along the way as Genco knocked down a 3-point buzzer beater to end the first quarter, while Gabby Giacone narrowly beat the shot clock during the closing seconds of the third quarter. Shannon Todd knocked down a career high, five 3-pointers, to lead the Huskies from downtown.
 
JERSEY GIRLS

Northeastern's two New Jersey rookies made significant contributions to the Huskies' cause during their respective collegiate debuts. Stella Clark (Sea Girt, N.J.) scored 16 points during her collegiate debut on Nov. 10 against Boston University, shooting 50 percent from the field while also leading the Huskies in assists (five). More recently, Jasmin Watson (Princeton, N.J.) debuted for Northeastern on Dec. 6 against Harvard, totaling nine points, three rebounds, an assist, and a block during 20 minutes of action.
 
FAMILY TIES

Sophomore forward Jasmine Braswell made her first collegiate start on Dec. 6 against Harvard during the Huskies' lone game of the 2017-18 season at Matthews Arena. While the Northeastern women's basketball team typically plays its home games at Cabot Center, Matthews Arena was the same building in which Jasmine's father, Roland, played for the Northeastern men's basketball team from 1980 to 1984. Roland was teammates with to-be Boston Celtic Reggie Lewis during the 1983-84 season under the Huskies' head coach, Jim Calhoun.
 
CLARK MAKES HISTORY
 
Northeastern's Stella Clark made CAA history at the beginning of the 2017-18 season, becoming the first women's basketball player to begin her collegiate career with three consecutive Rookie of the Week honors (Nov. 13, Nov. 20, and Nov. 27), since the league first presented the award during the 2002-03 season. In achieving the feat, Clark also became the first CAA player to collect three straight Rookie of the Week nods since Elena Delle Donne (Delaware) achieved the mark twice during the 2009-10 season: between Jan. 11 and Jan. 25, and then again between Feb. 8 and Feb. 22.
 
Clark is one of two Northeastern players ever to start her NU career with three or more consecutive conference Rookie of the Week honors. She joined Shaleyse Smallwood, who earned four straight America East Rookie of the Week nods at the start of the 2004-05 season. Smallwood went on to be named the 2004-05 America East Rookie of the Year and this year (Nov. 9) was inducted into the Northeastern Varisty Club Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2017.
 
HOUNDING OFFENSE
 
The Huskies boasted the third best scoring offense in the CAA during the month of November, averaging 72.8 points per game. Entering December, Northeastern was one of four teams in the conference that possessed a positive scoring margin (+4.0). In terms of efficiency, the Huskies also ranked fourth in the league in field goal percentage (41.0) and third in 3-point field goal percentage (34.8).
 
UP NEXT
 
Northeastern will make its long-awaited homecoming on Sunday, Dec. 31, at 1 p.m., when the Huskies welcome the CAA preseason favorite, James Madison to Cabot Center.