By Bob Bonett

It wasn’t the preferred slate of games this week for a team struggling as mightily as Coach Krista Kilburn Steveskey’s women’s basketball team. Two conference contenders-Virginia Commonwealth and James Madison-that could give Colonial Athletic Association giant Old Dominion a run for their money in the postseason tournament. And, as has been the case far too many times for a team coming off their most successful run in program history, the Pride exited the week with back-to-back losses, dropping their record to 4-22 overall, including 2-13 in CAA action.

In each effort, individual freshmen continued to show that hope is on horizon for the last-place team in the conference. Forward Britne Rogers tallied her second career double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds against a terrific Dukes team, followed by both Rogers and up-and-coming point guard Candice Bellocchio reaching double digits in an 80-61 loss to the Rams.

There isn’t much of a point to harp on the individual achievements of the Pride’s young players though, as it has been referenced ad nauseum throughout the past few weeks. The reality of the situation is that Hofstra has just three games remaining before the end of an undeniably painful regular season, and barring any unforeseen events, a conference tournament game or two before the Pride enter a long postseason.

So instead of looking for the positives in games that have already hit the books this year, here are a few things Kilburn-Steveskey and company will hope to improve upon and build upon as the season winds down.

Avoid surrendering big individual performances

Shaylese Smallwood, Krystal Vaughn, Dovile Mikiauskaite-all opponents of Hofstra’s that put up career-best performances against a young Pride team. On a seemingly nightly basis, the Pride defense has shown lapses in being able to cover individual players, enabling an onslaught of showcase performances by the opposition’s best players.

To solve one of the team’s biggest problems, Kilburn-Steveskey may look to neutralize opposing superstars in the final few games. Being outplayed across the court and losing a basketball game will happen-however, the team can’t afford to lose games due to the performance of singular athletes if they hope to contend in a very deep CAA next year.

Play consistent basketball in each half

Another one of the Pride’s biggest Achilles heels this season has been inconsistent play from half-to-half. More often than not, Hofstra will put together a solid performance in one of the game’s stanzas, only to fall flat in the other. Kilburn-Steveskey’s women have blown eye-popping leads this season due to sluggish play at the onset of the second half, something truly indicative of the team’s young nature.

In the final three contests of the year, the freshmen will need to step up and show that they have matured somewhat throughout the course of an entire season. By putting together complete efforts, the young Pride will prove this maturity.

Get Sam Brigham’s offensive game going

Ask anybody with knowledge of Hofstra’s program prior to this season who the Pride’s leading scorer would be come the end of the season-the answer would resoundingly be sophomore guard Sam Brigham. Sporting arguably the best shot on the team, specifically from the perimeter, Brigham was really the only player that had shown flashes of an ability to put up big figures last year.

Instead, though, injuries have hampered Brigham, and instead of scoring 15-20 points per game, the guard has found herself floating around and even below 10 points per game this year. If Niki Williams and Bellocchio can get Brigham more involved in the offense and instill more confidence in her perimeter game as the season wraps up, the soon-to-be junior could head into the off-season with more of a propensity to be the team’s main threat next year-with an obviously talented Rogers helping her along the way.

Give Old Dominion a run for their money

Assuming the Lady Monarchs avoid upset in their next two contests, they will welcome the young, struggling Pride to town in hopes of finishing their regular season 16-0, entering the conference tournament with a 27-3 record overall. They may even be top-10 in the entire nation, looking at a potential four or even three seed in the NCAA Tournament.

What better way for the Pride to end the season by taking ODU down to the wire? Granted, winning the game may, at this juncture, appear to be an absolute impossibility, and one win can’t make up for months of losing, especially in the minds of the team’s athletes.

However, if Hofstra goes into halftime tied with one of the nation’s best, or find themselves within a few possessions with five minutes to go in the game, the Pride women would surely enter their postseason workouts with some substantial momentum, a sort-of consolation prize for one of the lesser seasons in program history.