On Thursday, Jan. 9, the Hofstra University women’s basketball team lost a heartbreaker to Towson University 47-46. After the loss, the Pride fell to 3-11 and to 11th place in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) standings.
“[There are] a lot of things we can pull from this game; [this was] not the result that we wanted,” said Hofstra head coach Danielle Santos Atkinson.
The game started with one of the roughest offensive openings the Pride has had in years. They opened the game with a full court press man defense and grabbed five steals in the first quarter alone but missed every easy opportunity to start offensively. The Pride started the game 0-12 from the field and finished the first quarter just 1-15. They scored just five points in the first quarter.
“The thing with the shots, when they weren’t falling, is we got great shots,” Santos said. “I don’t know how many layups [we had] at the rim [or] how many wide-open shots. I don’t know, we were tight, maybe? Maybe a little bit of nerves, first conference game back at home.”
After being down as many as 12 points in the second, Hofstra began a 16-4 run for the last seven minutes of the half. Nevaeh Brown had her best game as a member of the Pride, scoring nine points in the second quarter while shooting 3-3 from 3-point range. She finished the game with 17 points and three steals.
Hofstra and Towson went back and forth throughout the entire fourth quarter, with five lead changes. The Tigers shot eight free throws in the final quarter, scoring six of their last 14 points from the line. Hofstra had the final possession with 11 seconds left but couldn’t get a shot off.
“We were looking at being able to attack with [Brown],” Santos said. “We thought that was the best matchup on the floor at the time, but we had plenty of opportunities and options on the floor to be able to score.”
Hofstra put up their best defensive performance of the season, holding Towson to 47 points. They held the Tigers to just 33% shooting from the field and 16% from 3-point range. The Pride also forced 16 turnovers and tied their season high in steals with 10. Towson is one of the best offensive teams in the CAA, coming off a four-game win streak where they averaged 70.5 points per game.
“We held a team that has four people scoring in double digits, averages 70-75 points to 47,” Santos said. “Lot of positives that we can pull from this game, we got to continue to work on putting that ball in the basket and down the stretch, making sure that I have this team prepared to go and close it in the final seconds of the game.”
The Pride faced off against Drexel University on Sunday, Jan 11. Tip off was scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Daskalakis Athletic Center.
