By Nate Owen, News Staff

They say the scoreboard tells it all, but there are some cases where that old adage doesn’t hold true.
The women’s basketball team may have lost to host James Madison, 51-49, in the quarterfinals of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) tournament in Harrisonburg, Va. Friday night, but in the eyes of head coach Daynia La-Force Mann, the Huskies were the victors.
‘ ‘Early in the season, I learned that we can’t measure our success by wins and losses,’ she said. ‘With seven freshman and such a young team, we just couldn’t do that. This game is a good example of that. I think our kids did an awesome job tonight with their effort and toughness. In my mind, we won the game based on that.’
The third-seeded Dukes jumped out to an early 16-4 lead with 9:06 left in the first half. La-Force Mann took a timeout and once play resumed the Huskies came firing back, thanks in part to experience they gained throughout the season.
‘Our non-conference and conference schedule helped build our confidence when we’re down,’ La-Force Mann said. ‘We fought back, we fought hard. The players on the bench were intense and the players on the floor were intense.’
Northeastern took a slim 19-18 lead at the half when senior guard and co-captain Ashlee Feldman connected on 1-of-2 free throw attempts with just 12 ticks remaining.
But the second half saw the Dukes unleash a weapon which the Huskies had no answer for.
‘In the second half, we developed this new offense,’ JMU coach Kenny Brooks said. ‘We called it, ‘get the ball to Dawn and get out of the way,” he said, referring to guard Dawns Evans, the nation’s second leading scorer with 23.9 points per game.
Evans was just 1-of-10 in the first half, but exploded in the second for 21 points, finishing the game with 23.
‘I think the difference in the game was Dawn Evans,’ La-Force Mann said. ‘We didn’t have Dawn Evans and they did.’
James Madison built a 38-29 lead with 11:06 left in the second half on a jumper by forward Rachel Connely.
A basket by junior forward Kim Carr sliced the Dukes’ lead to 43-40 with 4:44 left and freshman guard Kashaia Cannon nailed two three’-pointers in the final nine seconds, but it wasn’t enough to upset the Dukes.
Carr led NU with 14 points and pulled down seven rebounds, while sophomore guard Jasmine Crew had 10 points and nine boards. Freshman guard Brittany Wilson contributed eight points and eight rebounds as well.
Evans was the only James Madison player in double figures.
‘I have to congratulate Northeastern,’ Brooks said. ‘Daynia La-Force Mann always has her team ready, especially at this time of year. She’s doing a fantastic job. She’s only going to help the CAA.’
James Madison knocked off Virginia Commonwealth University in the semifinals before falling to Drexel 64-58 in the championship yesterday.
Prior to falling to JMU, Northeastern rolled over Georgia State, 68-45, shooting 51.1 percent from the field Thursday night.
Northeastern built a 34-27 lead going into halftime, thanks to some clutch three point shooting by Feldman.
‘Defensively and offensively, there was so much hype,’ Feldman said. ‘I was like, ‘I have to knock down these shots, I have to.”
NU established an 11 point lead early in the second thanks to Carr’s three point play. The Panthers (12-18, 4-14 CAA) slashed the lead to 50-41 with 9:49 left on the clock, but the Huskies held them without a field goal attempt for three minutes and back-to-back three pointers by Feldman sealed the deal for the Huskies.
‘ ‘I thought our girls did a nice job defensively in this game,’ La-Force Mann said. ‘Coming into the game we really wanted to focus on our rebounding and obviously we did a good job of that, outrebounding them by nine. We had a different defensive scheme tonight and we had a couple of days in practice to work on it and it really proved to be effective tonight.’
Offensively, the Huskies found a zone offense they liked, La-Force Mann said, and continued to run it as they shredded the Panthers’s 2-3′ zone defense.
Wilson scored a career-best 19 points for the Huskies, while Carr recorded her second career double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Northeastern’s captains, Feldman and junior forward Kendra Walton, contributed 14 and 11 points, respectively.
‘ The Huskies conclude the 2008-09 campaign with an overall record of 12-19, including an 8-10 mark in CAA play. NU will lose only one senior in Feldman and returns a key core of players for the coming seasons.
‘In the future, we’re going to be a great team,’ La-Force Mann said. ‘My kids gained a lot of experience this year. The future is bright for Northeastern.’
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