HARRISONBURG, Va. – With
Stella Clark's convincing 28-point performance, the Northeastern women's basketball team scored a defining win at James Madison on Tuesday as the Huskies topped the Dukes, 77-69, at the Atlantic Union Bank Center – the program's first-ever true road victory recorded during series history.
Clark inherited the keys to the Huskies' offense from
Kendall Currence, who delivered 16 of her 18 points during the second quarter. Currence earned a chunk of her second quarter scoring off her electric, 4-for-4 shooting from downtown, helping NU turn its 17-10 deficit at the start of the period into the 31-29 halftime lead.
From there, Clark went off, piling on 25 second half points courtesy of her 8-for-12 shooting across the final two quarters. The senior point guard drained three of her five made 3-pointers during the third quarter and tacked on 14 fourth quarter points, matching the career scoring high she set during the second game of her rookie season (Nov. 14, 2017, vs. Providence).
With the victory, Northeastern (3-6, 2-4 CAA) notched its second all-time win against James Madison (7-5, 3-2 CAA) and its first series victory since the 2011-12 season. The Huskies also snapped a 14-game winless stretch during true road contests at JMU.
Returning to the starting lineup,
Mossi Staples notched 12 points for Northeastern, sinking all five of her free throw attempts.
Ayanna Dublin also paired eight points with eight rebounds and three assists despite fouling out with 5:52 remaining in regulation.
NU celebrated its best offensive outing of the season, shooting 47 percent from the field (25-for-53), 50 percent from 3-point range (11-for-22) and 94 percent from the foul line (16-for-17). The Huskies' 77 points on Tuesday also set the program's series record for offensive production (29th series meeting).
Defensively, Northeastern forced the Dukes into committing 17 turnovers, having registered 22 takeaways during the teams' opening affair on Monday.
Peyton McDaniel led James Madison with 20 points while Kiki Jefferson added 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists to the Dukes' cause.
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