BOSTON – Receiving a combination of strong performances on Tuesday, especially from sophomores
Kendall Currence and
Alexis Hill, the Northeastern women's basketball team nearly opened the 2019-20 season by taking down South Dakota – the top-ranked women's mid-major program – despite settling for the 80-76 defeat at Cabot Center.
Currence led the Huskies with 19 points on seven-for-nine shooting, erupting for 14 second-half points as Northeastern (0-1) kept the Coyotes within range. NU trailed by as many as six points during the third quarter before battling back and taking its first lead of the game on a
Stella Clark 3-pointer within the final 90 seconds of the period.
Entering the fourth quarter tied at 48-48, the Huskies motored in front with creative passing by Clark, who connected with
Alexis Hill for an alley-oop layup and a three-point play to put NU in front, 66-60. Currence then followed with 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions, rushing Northeastern out to the 72-62 lead and sending the Coyotes into a called timeout with exactly three minutes remaining in regulation.
However, South Dakota (1-0) exited its break by knocking six quick points off the Huskies' lead within a half minute of play resuming, prompting the visitors' 14-0 run that left them in control during the closing minutes. Currence drained her fourth 3-pointer of the final quarter to cut the margin to 76-75, but that was as close as Northeastern would manage to come.
Hill enjoyed quite the season debut for the Huskies, hitting seven of her 11 shots from the field while totaling 15 points, four rebounds, four steals, three assists and three blocks. Clark dished out eight assists along with her 13 points, also hauling in four rebounds.
Rookie forward
Mide Oriyomi paced the Northeastern bench with 10 points in addition to contributing four assists and three rebounds.
Both teams shot above 50 percent from the field. Ciara Duffy led the Coyotes with 22 points, five rebounds and five assists.
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