The Hofstra women’s basketball team had a bounce back win over Drexel University, 60-53, on Sunday, Jan. 12. The Pride moved to 8-7 on the year while improving to 3-1 in Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) play. The defending CAA champs move to 6-7 this season after picking up their first loss in conference play.
“So proud of this team and their fight and how they competed for 40 minutes,” said Hofstra head coach Danielle Santos Atkinson.
Junior point-guard Chloe Sterling and graduate student Zyheima Swint lit up the “stat” sheet in the performance, Sterling pouring in 17 points on 6-18 shooting and Swint contributing an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double.
“We have no pressure on us, just go out there and play hard,” Sterling said on her effort and the results she reaped. “So, I just think being aggressive, the whole team was aggressive today, so it was great.”
Knowing Drexel averaged 20 3-point attempts per game this season, Santos opted to start Ramatoulaye Keita simultaneously with Swint for the additional rim protection. The front court’s hustle and tenacity contributed to the Pride’s 45-26 advantage in rebounds with Keita adding eight rebounds and six points.
“You’ve got a team that shoots [3-pointers], and we only gave up four, three of them to their post player that doesn’t usually hit them,” Santos said.
“Just going hard,” Swint said about her time shared on the floor with Keita. “Knowing that we could dominate this whole conference. Knowing what we both bring to the table and showing what we have.”
With a heavy emphasis on rebounding to secure a win, the Pride came out of the gates hot, pulling down 25 rebounds in the first half. With that, the team was able to cash in six of their 34 first-half points on second-chance opportunities.
In the second half, both teams made defensive adjustments. Drexel tightened their mid-range defense, staying in the zone which limited the Pride’s chances to penetrate into the paint from 14 points in the first half to just eight in the second half. Overall, Hofstra’s shooting percentage dipped in the second half, going from 48.1% to 40.9%.
“We expect to shoot that ball over 40 percent as a team, especially with the shots we’ve been able to get these past few goes,” Santos said. “We want to be able to get easy shots to the paint, open shots from the three-point line are still high-percentage shots.”
The team spends the rest of the week in Hempstead before they hit the road to play Elon University, currently seeded right below Hofstra in the conference standings. Tipoff is on Sunday, Jan. 19, at 1 p.m.
