BANGOR, Maine — Rebounding hasn’t always been a strong suit of the Husson University women’s basketball team, but you wouldn’t know it after watching the Eagles clean the glass in their season opener at Newman Gymnasium on Thursday evening.
The reigning North Athletic Conference champions outrebounded Saint Joseph’s College of Standish 48-26 and cruised to a 77-50 victory in a non-league matchup.
Much of that work generated second-chance opportunities, as Husson grabbed 25 offensive rebounds — nearly matching Saint Joseph’s total at both ends of the court.
“The offensive rebounding was a very big surprise because we haven’t always been the best rebounding team in the past,” said Husson head coach Kissy Walker. “We talk about getting the boards but we don’t always do it, but we went after them tonight and I thought that was a big key to the first half.”
Thirteen different Husson players had at least two rebounds, with junior center Anna MacKenzie grabbing a game-high seven boards — six at the offensive end — and sophomore forward Maegan True adding six.
“Last year I think we got outrebounded every game,” said Husson sophomore guard Kenzie Worcester, “so definitely in preseason and going into this regular season we’ve really worked so much on rebounding, not just defensively but crashing the boards offensively as well.”
Senior guard Darla Morales led the way offensively for the Eagles, scoring 16 of her game-high 21 points after intermission to help Husson extend a 44-23 halftime advantage. Morales shot 5-of-9 from beyond the 3-point arc, with three of her long-range shots coming during a 13-point third quarter.
Worcester added 19 points for Husson, 11 in the first quarter, while True and MacKenzie scored eight points each.
Senior guard Chandler Guerrette, a fourth-year starter for Husson, managed just two points on 1-of-12 shooting from the field but contributed game-high totals of eight assists and four steals to go with four rebounds.
“Chandler didn’t have a good shooting night but she does so many things well,” said Walker. “She’s kind of the glue that keeps us all together, so to win by 27 points with Chandler not scoring as many points as she usually does, I’m really happy.”
Junior forward Regan McFerran led 1-1 Saint Joseph’s with 11 points and six rebounds, while sophomore guard Kelsi McNamara and senior guard Abbie Eastman added nine points.
Husson took control early, with senior guard Denae Johnson scoring the game’s first basket after grabbing an offensive rebound to set a fast-paced tone for the Eagles at both ends of the court.
Worcester then hit a lefty drive and fed MacKenzie for a fast-break layup before scoring again from the baseline — a basket that ignited a run of 14 straight points to give the Eagles a 20-3 lead.
It was 22-7 at the quarter break.
“Our game plan was to get out and run and push the ball,” Walker said. “I really think with having returning players like Chandler, Darla, Kenzie and Denae, they’re used to playing with each other from last year and it almost seemed like a carryover. It was like last season never ended for them.”
