BOSTON – Making its first-ever appearance in the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT), the Northeastern women's basketball team will descend on historic Hinkle Fieldhouse on Thursday, March 21, when the Huskies will oppose Butler – the third-place team out of the BIG EAST – during the tournament's opening round. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
HUSKIES IN THE POSTSEASON
• Northeastern is making its ninth postseason appearance all-time and its first-ever appearance in the WNIT since the tournament's inception in March 1998.
• The Huskies are appearing in a national postseason tournament for the second consecutive season under the leadership of fifth-year head coach
Kelly Cole. NU had advanced to the 2018 Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI), where it lost to Yale, 68-58, at Cabot Center during the tournament's opening round.
• Northeastern has advanced to non-conference postseason tournaments during back-to-back years (2018, 2019) for the first time since 1983 and 1984.
• The Huskies' 2018 WBI and 2019 WNIT berths mark the program's first since winning the 1999 America East title and receiving the league's automatic bid to the 1999 NCAA tournament.
• NU is seeking its first win during a non-conference postseason tournament since 1984 (ECAC).
ALL-TIME SERIES
• Northeastern trails the all-time series against Butler, 1-0. The Huskies lost the series' only meeting, 72-48, on Dec. 3, 1994, at the Georgia Tech Comfort Inn Downtown Classic.
HUSKIES IN AMERICA'S OLDEST ARENAS
• Northeastern will be making its first-ever appearance at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse – the sixth-oldest college basketball venue in the U.S. (1928).
• Despite calling Cabot Center its home court in Boston, the Huskies defeated Delaware on Jan. 20 at their alternate on-campus home venue, Matthews Arena – the nation's oldest college basketball venue (1910).
DESERVING OF THE POSTSEASON
• Entering Selection Monday, Northeastern possessed the third highest RPI (No. 96) out of the CAA, which ranked as the nation's 10th most competitive league in terms of conference RPI.
• From Nov. 13, 2018, to Feb. 5, 2019, the Huskies received votes during 13 consecutive releases of collegeinsider.com's Women's Mid-Major Top 25 poll – its longest streak during program history. NU was ranked among the top 25 during nine straight weeks, peaking at No. 10 during the Dec. 18 reveal.
• Northeastern earned three victories against 2019 NCAA tournament teams, defeating the regular season champions out of the America East (Maine) and Atlantic 10 (Fordham) while splitting its two games against the CAA tournament champion, Towson.
• The Huskies earned two road victories against this year's 64-team WNIT field, collecting an overtime win at Dayton and a regional win at Providence.
• As of March 20, NU ranked No. 27 in the non-conference RPI.
GENCO NAMED TO ALL-CAA FIRST TEAM
• Senior point guard
Jess Genco merited placement onto the All-CAA First Team for the second consecutive season.
• Genco is the first Northeastern player to be named to the All-CAA First Team during multiple seasons. She is also the program's fourth NU player to garner multiple all-conference First Team selections, joining the company of Carrine Jones (North Atlantic Conference, 1992-94), Katasha Artis (North Atlantic Conference, 1993-95) and Tesha Tinsley (America East, 1997-2000).
• After collecting 2018-19 Preseason All-CAA First Team honors, Genco led the CAA during the regular season with six 30-point scoring games and co-led the league with four CAA Player of the Week honors, plus one Honorable Mention nod.
• As of March 20, Genco ranks among the top three CAA players in points (17.4), assists (4.4) and steals (2.0) per game while leading the conference and ranking among the top 10 Division I players in both free throw percentage (91.7) and minutes per game (38.3). She also leads the CAA in 3-point field goals per game (2.7) and ranks fifth in 3-point field goal percentage (37.6).
• Genco was a finalist for the prestigious 2018-19 Dean Ehlers Leadership and Sports Excellence Award.
NU AT THE 2019 #CAAChamps
• Northeastern entered the 2019 CAA tournament as the No. 6 seed.
• The Huskies upset third-seeded UNCW, 75-64, during the quarterfinal round to advance to their second CAA semifinal game as a league member (2016). Four NU players finished their scoring in double figures, led by
Jess Genco's 22 points (13-for-16 free throw shooting).
• NU pushed second-seeded Drexel to overtime during a thrilling semifinal game that featured eight lead changes and 11 tied scores. The entire game was played within a 13-point window. Once again, four Huskies finished their scoring in double figures, led by
Gabby Giacone's 14-point, 11-rebound double-double.
Ayanna Dublin paired the team scoring high, 16 points, with nine rebounds.
• Four current Northeastern players are members of the program's two CAA semifinal teams (2016, 2019):
Jess Genco,
Gabby Giacone,
Te'Erica Eason and
Zoe Zwerling. Both semifinal defeats occurred against Drexel.
2018-19 SENIOR CLASS
• Northeastern's 2018-19 senior class has compiled 63 wins – the seventh most by a four-year graduating class during program history.
• The 2018-19 senior class has attained the most wins (63) and best winning percentage (.512) since the 2000-01 senior class posted 67 victories (.573).
• Point guard
Jess Genco currently holds career program records in minutes played (4,647), games started (121), assists (540), 3-point field goals (294) and 3-point field goal attempts (840).
Gabby Giacone is the program's record holder in career games played (123).
• Considering
Jess Genco (1,546 career points) and
Gabby Giacone (1,113), Northeastern is competing with two active members of its 1,000-point scoring club for the first time since the 2012-13 season (Deanna Kerkhof, Kash Cannon).
MILESTONE WATCH
•
Jess Genco (1,546 career points) enters the 2019 CAA tournament needing six points to tie Katasha Artis for third place on Northeastern's all-time scoring list (1,551).
REGULAR SEASON TRENDS
• Northeastern is 15-0 this season when holding its opponent to less than 40 percent shooting from the field (7-0 against CAA opponents).
• The Huskies are 14-4 when outrebounding their opponent, experiencing each of their four defeats by six points or less.
• NU has posted a 17-3 record this year when registering 14 or more team assists.
20/20 VISION
• Northeastern has achieved the program's third 20-win season.
• The Huskies' program record for wins is 22, set during their 1984-85 and 1998-99 campaigns – the latter of which resulted in the program's lone NCAA tournament appearance.
UP NEXT
• With a win, Northeastern will advance to the WNIT second round, where the Huskies will oppose the winner of Thursday's first round game between Green Bay and Kent State.
