The Hofstra University women’s basketball team took their third consecutive loss as they took a hard 73-42 defeat to the College of Charleston on Sunday, Feb. 2, in a Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) road matchup.
The Pride drop to 9-10 overall with a 4-5 CAA record while the Cougars improve to 15-5 overall with a 6-3 record against conference foes.
While Hofstra began play on a 5-0 run in the first two minutes of the game from a 3-pointer from Emma Von Essen, Charleston’s momentum picked up and stayed throughout the remainder of the game. After Charleston’s Taryn Barbot made a 3-pointer to tie the game 9-9 with just over five minutes left in the first quarter, she made a second deep shot under a minute later to give the Cougars the lead for the remainder of the game.
Charleston’s lead would grow as large as 33 points over the Pride, which occurred with 46 seconds left on the clock.
After a close 70-67 overtime loss against UNC-Wilmington on Friday, Jan. 31, Hofstra’s performance seemed to take a day off on both ends, thwarted by Charleston’s Barbot twins, the only two players in the game to score double digits.
Taryn Barbot scored 30 points, went 10-19 and 5-10 from the 3-point line and put up a team-high nine rebounds; while Taylor Barbot scored 13 points, made seven rebounds and a team-high six assists.
No member of the Pride scored more than Zyheima Swint’s eight points. Chloe Sterling, who came into Hofstra’s matchup averaging 14.1 points per game as the Pride’s scoring leader, only scored seven points. Janaia Fargo trailed with six points while Von Essen, who fouled out with just under four minutes left of gameplay, put up five points, including her game-starting 3-pointer.
The Pride shot 24.6% from the field as a team, compared to the Cougars’ 45% shooting rate, however, Hofstra made 10 of 11 free throws and continues to perform well at the foul line this season.
To optimize playing, Hofstra head coach Danielle Santos Atkinson put 13 of her players in the game, with 12 scoring at least one point for the Pride. Every member of the Pride’s roster appeared in at least six minutes with the exception of LaNae’ Corbett, who is slowly making her full-time return to the court after being unavailable for weeks related to an injury.
Hofstra heads to Stony Brook, New York for the Battle of Long Island against Stony Brook University on Friday, Feb. 7. Tipoff against the Seawolves is at 7 p.m. at Island Federal Arena.
