University of Delaware Athletics
Carra Catches Fire, Leads Blue Hens to Seventh Straight Victory Win 76-51 Road Win at Northeastern
1/15/2013 7:49:00 PM | Women's Basketball
BOSTON, Mass. – University of Delaware senior guard Lauren Carra(at right) broke out of a scoring slump in a big way Tuesday night as she scored a game-high 20 points and also pulled down nine rebounds to lead the Blue Hens to an easy 76-51 Colonial Athletic Association win at Northeastern at Solomon Court.
The Hens (12-3, 3-0 CAA) cruised to their seventh straight victory, 22nd consecutive regular season CAA contest and 22nd straight over Northeastern as All-American Elena Delle Donne added 19 points and seven rebounds, Jaquetta May contributed 12 points and five rebounds, and Danielle Parker added 11 points and five boards. Delle Donne also collected four blocked shots in the contest.
“The kids did shoot the lights out tonight,” remarked UD head coach Tina Martin. “We had good spacing on the floor against the pressure. I was really proud of our senior leaders and the way we shot the ball and found open people. This was a great team effort.”
Delaware opened the game with a 6-0 run and eventually took a 12-6 lead within the first five minutes after two consecutive three-pointers in the corner from Carra.
“The coaches stressed that the corners would be open tonight and in the first half, Northeastern did exactly what the coaches said they would do,” stated Carra, who came through with a big effort after managing to score just 20 points over the past four games. “We were definitely able to execute the game plan like the coaches wanted.”
The Hens would go up by as much as eight at 22-14 with just over nine minutes remaining in the half before the Huskies cut that lead to four at 28-24.
Delaware proceeded to go on a 14-5 run to end the half, including three straight treys from Kayla Miller, Trumae Lucas and Carra. All three baskets came off of assists as the Blue Hens went into the locker room at halftime with a 44-29 advantage.
UD shot 85.7 percent (6-of-7) from beyond the arc in the first in addition to a 53.8 (14-for-26) overall shooting percentage. The Hens also tallied nine assists in the first half of play.
“We did a great job of reversing the basketball and knowing where the openings were and sharing the ball,” Martin commented.
Delaware continued the hot play into the second half, where they would go up by as much as 24 before Northeastern was able to get off five straight points with just over eight minutes remaining. The Hens led by as much as 27 in the contest.
UD recorded another dominating effort on the boards as they outrebounded the Huskies by a wide 48-28 margin and held Northeastern to just 20 of 56 shooting (35.7 percent) from the field.
Deanna Kerkhof led Northeastern (9-6, 2-2 CAA) with 16 points and seven rebounds while Kashala Cannon added 14 points. The Huskies lost their second straight game following a three-game win streak.
“I'm feeling really good about this team right now,” remarked Martin. “We're playing good basketball on both ends of the court. We just want to keep on winning.”
The Blue Hens return to the Bob Carpenter Center Sunday as they host Towson at 2 p.m.
