By Nate Owen, News Staff

After seeing her team play from behind for many of the previous games, an early lead in yesterday’s game against George Mason would have been the perfect stress reliever for women’s basketball head coach, Daynia La-Force Mann.
The Huskies, who improved to 8-12 overall and 5-4 in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), jumped out to an early 11-0 lead and seemed poised for an easy Sunday afternoon at Solomon Court, but the Patriots (2-18, 0-9 CAA) made a bit of a challenge for the Huskies.
Senior guard and co-captain Ashlee Feldman started the scoring by draining a three from the right corner.
With 13:39 left in the first half, sophomore guard Jasmine Crew’s fade’-away jumper from the top of the free throw line rattled around the rim, but fell in as it barely beat the shot clock. Several minutes later, junior forward and co-captain Kendra Walton’s three-pointer gave NU a 20-6 lead.
Northeastern would have an easy going of it in the first half, leading by as much as 16. NU shot 50 percent (10-of-20), while the Patriots were only 6-of-30 in the half. The Huskies led 29-17 at halftime.
However, George Mason crawled back to 35-29 with 11:47 left on a lay-up by guard Brittany Eley. However, nine seconds later, Walton ripped a three on the left side of the arc, putting NU up by nine and sending the Husky bench into an uproar.
‘That was big. That gave us the confidence to know we could hold on to the end of the game,’ La-Force Mann said. ‘This was a different George Mason team from when we played them last [a comeback 59-43 win for NU].’
But the Patriots went on a 7-0 run to pull within two at 8:29.
‘I think we were too relaxed and we weren’t making any shots, so we were getting down on ourselves,’ Walton said.
Freshman Brittany Wilson helped the Huskies pull away, scoring six straight points to cushion the lead. Wilson finished with 13 on the day and has emerged as another scoring threat for NU.
‘She drives to the basket and gets fouls,’ La-Force Mann said of Wilson. ‘And that helped us get George Mason into foul trouble.’
Junior forward Kim Carr gave the Patriots trouble inside throughout the game, as she finished with 15 points and seven boards. Walton had 12 points and eight rebounds
Thursday night, the Huskies hosted Delaware (11-9, 3-6 CAA). The Blue Hens led 28-23 at half time and held off the Huskies to win, 65-58.
‘Our offense wasn’t running very well,’ Wilson said. ‘[It’s] stressful to be playing from behind, especially how we just won and this team was 1-6 [entering the game].’
La-Force Mann said the Husky offense was hurt by Carr’s foul trouble in the first half, taking away Northeastern’s inside game.
Wilson had 15 points and eight rebounds for the Huskies, while Crew and Feldman each had 11 points.
The Huskies next head on the road to face Old Dominion (11-8, 6-3 CAA) Thursday at 7 p.m. and James Madison (7-2, 14-6 CAA) Sunday at 3:30 p.m.