By Mike Rudin – SPORTS EDITOR
Head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey heads into her 10th season at the helm of the Hofstra Pride women’s basketball team and the upcoming 2015-16 season is set to be one of the most anticipated seasons for Hofstra.
Kilburn-Steveskey’s team left quite an impression last season. Hofstra jumped to a 20-win season and reached the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) title round for the first time in program history and appeared in the 2015 Women’s National Invitational Tournament.
“I love coaching them and they have a great understanding of the game,” Kilburn-Steveskey said after Hofstra Basketball Media Day. “I’m excited about what the season can possess for us.”
Last year’s team had a breakthrough season after coming off a pair of sub .500 records. The 2014-15 roster accomplished their winning season with not one senior.
Hofstra was picked third in the 2015 CAA preseason poll – only behind Drexel and the number-one pick James Madison Dukes.
The Pride maintain 12 of their 13 members from last year’s team, which includes four starters.
“They’re a good chemistry team. Not one person is trying to get theirs, so it’s not like black holes when you’re passing the ball in and someone is trying to shoot it all the time,” Kilburn-Steveskey said about the team. “With the guard play, you can have Asia Jackson and Jakelle [King-Gilchrist] … those are the people that will help us win games.”
The returning starters hold great promise with the young-but-seasoned core group of the team between junior Krystal Luciano, junior Kelly Loftus, senior Darius Faulk and sophomore Ashunae Durant.
This now includes Kilburn-Steveskey’s plan to have redshirt junior Anjie White to start the five-spot for the upcoming season.
“Our better scoring lineup is the lineup I have right now with Ashunae at the four and Anjie White as the five,” Kilburn-Steveskey said.
White is a 6-foot-2-inch forward that burst onto the starting scene in the beginning of February and started every game since for Hofstra. She couldn’t suit up for a year and a half after transferring from George Washington University.
Once she became a starter, she strung together five straight double-digit scoring performances from Feb. 8 to 20.
Defensively, she was fourth on the team with 5.8 rebounds per game, but White’s defense skills are something she’s been working on during the offseason by practicing with her 6-foot-4-inch teammate, Sandra Dongmo.
“When we’re on the court, it’s definitely helping me to practice on how to play defense and how to get tough and working players that are bigger than me,” White said.
Plus, the Hempstead native Darius Faulk can be a catalyst for the team this year. She led the Pride with 5.3 assists per game.
She also has the physical tenacity to throw off other teams, which showed during last year’s CAA Tournament and she was the steals leader last season as well.
This season will also be the return of last year’s CAA Rookie of the Year and All-Met Division I Rookie of the Year Durant.
She defined the term freshman phenom, tallying the second-most points and rebounds on the team as well as being the best free-throw shooter in her freshman campaign. Durant has worked diligently over the offseason and at practice to avoid any sophomore slump.
“I want to do better than my rookie year. I don’t want to be known as the person who only did well her rookie year. I want to do good every year,” Durant said about her basketball performance.
Kilburn-Steveskey made the comparison that Durant reminds her of her former player Shante Evans, debateably the greatest player in program history, in the midst of the 2014-15 season.
But Durant is determined to break out of that shadow of comparison.
“I never want to be compared to any player. I want to be my own foundation. I want to be known as Ashunae Durant. I don’t want to be compared to her but it’s a great compliment,” Durant said.
The vocal leader of the team, Luciano, returns as one of the strategists for the Pride, compiling the second-most assists on the team.
“Well, people say I have been doing really good [in practice] … I just need to bring consistency every day and just worry about the little things because I’ve got great teammates,” said Luciano.
Overall, this team holds a lot of depth. They’re going to be a major threat to the rest of the CAA.
After nine years of watching other teams run rampant in the conference – between the Old Dominion’s dynasty, the Delaware era of Elena Delle Donne and James Madison’s reign – Hofstra stands the best chance they’ve had in a long time to claim the title: Champions of the CAA.
