BOSTON – Despite
Kendall Currence pouring in 21 points off the bench and
Ayanna Dublin's all-around effort on Saturday, the Northeastern women's basketball team was unable to slow down the booming offense of Towson as the Huskies received the 90-69 defeat from the Tigers at Cabot Center.
Currence began her day with four 3-point makes inside the game's opening 13 minutes, pairing her 8-for-13 shooting line with seven rebounds and five assists. Dublin achieved her third career double-double, stuffing the stat sheets to the tune of 13 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists and three steals.
Senior point guard
Stella Clark registered 12 of her 14 points during the second half, matching Currence with four 3-point baskets.
Leyla Öztürk inversely scored 12 of her 14 points during the first half, setting a rookie season scoring high in the process.
Surrendering 10 straight points to the visitors after tipoff, Northeastern (3-11, 2-9 CAA) suddenly found its offensive groove, knocking down 10 of its final 14 field goal attempts of the first quarter. Inside two minutes to go, Clark thread the needle in the paint to Öztürk, who drew the foul and completed the three-point play to give the Huskies their first lead of the game at 19-17.
With Öztürk and Dublin trading baskets during the second quarter, Northeastern's lead grew to double digits with 3:18 remaining in the half. However, Towson (11-3, 6-1 CAA) took advantage of the Huskies' ensuing missed looks, trimming the NU lead down to 38-35 at the intermission.
Northeastern kept tabs with Towson during the furious pace that was the start of the second half, but allowed the Tigers to break free courtesy of their 11-1 scoring run midway through the third quarter. Though Clark was able to straddle the third and fourth quarters with 3-point baskets – bringing the Huskies within one possession both times at 56-53 and 59-56 – Towson proceeded to score 31 fourth quarter points, riding away to the road victory.
Despite recording 22 assists on 27 made field goals, Northeastern conceded a 20-point margin in transition scoring to Towson on top of finishing -11 in turnover differential.
Kionna Jeter led all scorers with 30 points in addition to yielding seven assists and two steals. Shavonne Smith notched 18 points for the Tigers while Aleah Nelson recorded 15 points, six assists and three steals.
#HowlinHuskies
