BOSTON – UNCW women's basketball held Northeastern scoreless for the final five minutes to win its CAA road opener in a low-scoring affair, 51-48, at Solomon Court at Cabot Center on Sunday afternoon.

UNCW improved to 8-8, 2-1 CAA on the season, while Northeastern fell to 1-11, 0-3 CAA. Three Seahawks finished in double figures in the victory. Jania Hall led the way with 13 points and six rebounds off the bench, Ali Zelaya finished with 11 points and nine rebounds, and Tia Dobson matched her career-high with 11 points in the contest.

Northeastern jumped out to a quick 10-2 lead to begin the game and led 13-4 midway through the first quarter, but the Seahawks came to life and battled back to cut the deficit to 18-16 at the end of the quarter. UNCW held the Huskies scoreless for the final three minutes and had a 10-2 advantage in points in the paint. In her third career start, Dobson led the Seahawks with seven, while four additional Seahawks scored in the opening quarter.

UNCW outscored the Huskies 10-8 in the second quarter. Zelaya and Kate Hollifield each made key three-pointers, while Hall reached 900 career points on a pull-up jumper to tie the game at 26 going into the half. Dobson added a pair of free throws in the quarter to pace the Seahawks with nine points at the break. 

Northeastern started the 55 seconds of the third quarter on a 6-0 run, prompting Head Coach Nicole Woods to take a timeout. UNCW responded with an emphatic 11-0 run, highlighted by a Taylor Henderson three-pointer to give UNCW its first lead with four and a half minutes left in the quarter. The Seahawks held Northeastern scoreless for nearly seven minutes and built the lead to 37-32 with just over two minutes remaining in the quarter. The Huskies got within 37-36, but Evan Miller found Zelaya for a layup right before the buzzer to put the Seahawks up three at the end of the third. 

Tied at 43 with 7:18 left in the game, Hall put the Seahawks back in front with a three-point play, bringing her total to 12. Dobson followed with a mid-range jumper to tie her career-high, putting UNCW up 48-43. Northeastern quickly tied the game at 48 with 5:17 remaining, but the Huskies would not score for the rest of the game.

Hall split a pair of free throws to put UNCW up 49-48 with 2:30 remaining to play. Northeastern called a timeout, trailing by the same score with 1:13 to play. The UNCW defense held strong and forced a miss but could not convert at the other end. Moments later, the Seahawks got a key stop in the paint and Miller made a pair of free throws to increase the lead to 51-48 with 14 seconds left. Northeastern had one more wide-open look from three-point range, but could not convert. After UNCW had a foul to give on the ensuing rebound, the Seahawks came up with a steal on the final play to leave Cabot Center with the victory.

UNCW snapped an eight-game winless streak against the Huskies and defeated Northeastern in Boston for the first time since 2013. The Seahawks outscored Northeastern 17-5 in bench points and out-rebounded the Huskies 40-35. 

UP NEXT

UNCW travels to Buies Creek, N.C. on January 17 for another showdown against Campbell at 7 p.m. The Seahawks picked up their first conference win of the season (67-61) against the Camels at Trask Coliseum on January 3. Zelaya scored a career-high 19 points in the victory with seven rebounds.