Box Score | Season Statistics | Infographic

ELON, N.C. – Despite being led by Claudia Ortiz's career high, 31-point effort, the Northeastern women's basketball team was unable to dethrone the defending CAA champion on Sunday afternoon at Alumni Gym, coming up on the wrong side of the competitive and entertaining 78-71 result against Elon.
 
Ortiz shot 50 percent (10-for-20) from the floor and drained a career best, seven 3-pointers, for Northeastern (7-8, 2-2 CAA), which narrowly missed out on a chance to claim its first-ever 3-1 start to CAA play. The NU senior attained both her scoring and 3-point career highs on an uncontested buzzer beater at the end of regulation, after the Huskies' fate had been decided.
 
She became the third NU player to record 30 or more points during the last five seasons, joining Tiffany Montagne (34 points, Dec. 2013) and Francesca Sally (30 points, Feb. 2017).
 
Shannon Todd returned to double-figure scoring for the Huskies after a one-game absence, totaling 12 points, three rebounds, and an assist. Jess Genco tallied 11 points, seven assists, and five steals, playing without substitution for the fourth consecutive CAA game this season.
 
Gabby Giacone followed Genco with eight points and five rebounds, while Loren Lassiter led Northeastern on the glass, hauling in eight rebounds.
 
NU doubled up Elon (10-4, 2-1 CAA) in 3-point field goals (12-6), but was only slightly outperformed in shooting percentage (five percent), total rebounds (-2), and turnover margin (-3).
 
Both the Huskies and the Phoenix posted identical 10-for-14 free throw lines during a foul-filled third quarter. The third quarter featured 20 combined foul calls, split evenly, 10 and 10, between the two sides.
 
Ra'Shika White led Elon with 15 points and eight rebounds, while Lexi Mercer finished with 13 points as well. The Phoenix witnessed seven players score seven points or more.
 
FIRST QUARTER
 
Northeastern and Elon offered each other little separation during the back-and-forth first quarter, which featured both sides shoot better than 40 percent from the field. Claudia Ortiz immediately caught fire from the left side of the 3-point line, hitting each of her first two perimeter attempts there to initially give NU a 3-2 lead, then knot the game at 8-8 following Gabby Giacone's running teardrop in the lane. Ortiz picked Jada Graves' pocket with the quarter's under-five media break looming, but she was unable to come up with the answer to Shay Burnett's transition jumper on the other end as the Huskies trailed Elon, 10-8, heading into the 4:02 timeout. Exiting the break, Loren Lassiter cleaned up Ortiz's missed layup to tie the game at 10-10, while Jess Genco later found Ortiz cutting back door to put Northeastern on top, 14-12, with roughly two minutes left to play. Stella Clark and Ra'Shika White traded free throws down the stretch, but both teams remained deadlocked at 15-15 by the horn.
 
SECOND QUARTER
 
After a high octane first quarter, Northeastern and Elon regressed slightly as the second quarter began, combining to produce five turnovers during the opening two minutes of play. Shannon Todd's 3-point jumper ascended the Huskies into the lead at 18-17, although the Phoenix managed to swing back in front courtesy of a 4-0 spurt, featuring Graves' interior finish. Genco drained her jumper from the right baseline to bring Northeastern within a point at 21-20, while Ortiz later dropped her third 3-pointer from the left side of the arc, tying the game at 23-23 with 4:51 remaining.
 
However, the Huskies lost a peg of steam out of the 4:23 media timeout. NU surrendered baskets to the Phoenix during four straight possessions while also committing two turnovers, allowing Elon to stage a 9-0 run, build a 32-23 lead, and send the Huskies into a called timeout with 1:46 to go. Northeastern responded well out of its timeout, drawing within four points at the half (32-38) courtesy of Genco's long 2-point jumper at the top of the key and Ortiz's fourth 3-pointer of the half.
 
THIRD QUARTER
 
Coming off her 14-point first half, Ortiz dug in and scored each of the Huskies' first five points of the second half, burying her fifth 3-pointer to pull NU within a point again at 34-33. However, the game quickly turned into a battle from the free throw line as Northeastern and Elon combined to commit 20 fouls – seven more than during the first half combined (13). Both the Huskies and the Phoenix shot identical, 10-for-14 marks from the charity stripe. Ortiz snuck in her sixth 3-pointer of the afternoon to trim Elon's lead to 41-40 with 5:09 remaining, later tying the game at 43-43 with a jumper from inside the paint. Todd's two-for-two trip at the foul line provided Northeastern with a 48-45 lead with 2:33 left, before the NU sophomore swished a 3-pointer from Genco to deliver the Huskies a 51-47 advantage inside of two minutes to go. Burnett appeared to have slid the Phoenix in front late (54-53) upon hitting her 3-pointer from the left wing with less than 10 seconds remining, but Genco raced the ensuing inbound play up the floor, responding with a 3-point buzzer beater to give Northeastern the lead at 56-54.
 
FOURTH QUARTER
 
Malaya Johnson leveled the fourth quarter at 56-56 shortly before Ortiz was whistled for the offensive foul – becoming the second NU player to collect her fourth personal foul (Lassiter). Johnson's game-tying layup with 8:18 to play went down as the only basket of the period's opening four minutes, prior to Lexi Mercer bookending Giacone's lay-in with a pair of 3-pointers to put Elon ahead, 62-58. Todd answered with a 3-pointer for the Huskies on the next possession, but would join Lassiter and Ortiz with four personal fouls as the two teams arrived at the 3:54 media timeout with NU trailing, 64-63. Northeastern went less than a minute before Todd fouled out at the three-minute mark, prompting Jaylin Powell's one-for-two trip at the line that put the Phoenix up by four, 67-63. Clark's 3-point jumper with 2:11 remaining created a one-possession game in favor of Elon (69-66), but the Phoenix managed to counter with a 6-0 run, effectively sealing the Huskies' fate.
 
UP NEXT
 
Northeastern will begin a three-game home stand on Friday, Jan. 12, when the Huskies host College of Charleston at Cabot Center. Tipoff between the Huskies and the Cougars is scheduled for 7 p.m.