By Andrew Scharff
It was senior day the Mack Sports Complex Sunday afternoon and it was seniors Lizanne Murphy, Cigi McCollin and Vanessa Gidden that led the way for the Pride as they beat Northeastern University Huskies 75-61.
“Obviously I am very pleased with our effort, though we didn’t shoot the ball well in the first half, we came out and shot 46% in second half,” said Hofstra women’s head basketball coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey. “It was about time for our shots to fall and as long our shots fall we should be in good shape.”
The Pride led from the outset as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the opening minutes. The Huskies (4-24, 3-14) however came back to tie the game at five after being held scoreless for the opening five minutes of the half. After that the Pride would never look back again.
As soon as Northeastern tied the game, Hofstra went on a 9-2 run to take a 14-7 advantage after a three-pointer from Murphy with 10:51 remaining in the first half. After the Huskies got within five to 14-9 Hofstra scored 11 of the next 16 points to take its first double-digit lead of the game.
As they switched to a press defense to increase the tempo, the chances started to come for Pride to run away with it. But the Pride did have some finishing under the basket as Gidden (0-4 shooting in the first half) and teammate Lana Harshaw (2-8) had trouble getting space the paint.
“We struggled at their place inside. At their place we went with a smaller lineup. But I wasn’t going to do that tonight. I wanted to continue going with my big guns. They battled and they shot the ball better in the second half,” said Kilburn-Steveskey.
But like all season if Hofstra shown trouble in the paint, they have been more than capable to kick the ball outside and hit their jump shots. And that is exactly what had happened. Murphy and McCollin combined for 20 of Hofstra’s 34 points
With Northeastern hanging around Hofstra came out in the second half and put the game out of reach. Hofstra, who had a lead at times as high as 24 outscored the Huskies 19-8 in the first eight minutes of the second half.
The key to hot second half was Gidden. She came out of the locker room and looked like a new player. Gidden shot 7-13 and scored 15 of her 18 points in their second half. In that second half Gidden looked like low post presence she known to be. Along with those 18 points, she grabbed 11 rebounds as she recorded her eighth double-double of the season. “The first half was a little bit of nerves, anxiety, it was a big night. I was just too anxious and ready to go. I had to take a step back and calm myself down a little bit,” said Gidden.
Along with Gidden hot shooting, Murphy and McCollin kept their hot hand going. Whenever the Huskies brought the game back to within 11, it was always Murphy or McCollin answering back for the Pride.
Murphy finished with a team high 21 points and nine rebounds. With the 21 points Murphy moved in 13th on all-time scoring list (1,159) at Hofstra and with the nine rebounds she moved into 2nd in the career rebounding list (952) as she only trails Kate Gordon who has 1,031.
“I thought Lizanne had a great shooting day, she had 21 points and nine rebounds, and she needed that.”
McCollin added 18 points and Harshaw chipped in eight points. Northeastern’s Shaleyse Smallwood had a game 24 points after scoring a career high 37 in five overtime loss at Drexel. Lucia Pablos added 13 points for the Huskies. The Pride (22-6, 12-5) won their sixth straight game and seven of their last eight. With the win they have set a new program record for wins in a season. This year’s team was tied with squad from the 1982-83 season with 21 overall victories. Now with 22 victories, the Hofstra Pride women have a chance to shatter the record as they conclude their season Thursday night at UNC-Wilmington, which will followed by the CAA tournament.
