By Max Sass, Sports Editor

A road game is very similar to a home game, right? All you change is the color of the uniforms and the logo at mid court. Wrong.

We learned the truth about road trips as The Chronicle took an all – access look inside an away game with the Hofstra women’s basketball team. The group of 13 players, four coaches and numerous other people who help the team invited us to hop on a bus to Albany with them for what they called a business trip.

The Pride’s business trip was far from just business though. The team is a cohesive unit that acts like sisters, tweets constantly and always has a joke at the ready.

As the team boarded the bus outside the basketball offices, there was already debate as to what movie would be watched on the trip. Junior guard Nicole Capurso’s suggestion to watch “Blow” was quickly shot down by the coaching staff because of the nature of the movie. The burden fell on Candice Bellocchio, who sifted through her significant pile of movies and came up with the Karate Kid.

It was evident from the get – go that Bellocchio was one of the leaders of the team. An outspoken fourth-year junior guard with a heavy Staten Island accent, Bellocchio shares much of the leadership duties with senior forward Isoken Uzamere.

“I try to be a confident leader and I’ve built my assertiveness over the past couple years,” Bellocchio said.

Even as the movie played the wisecracks continued. Someone in the front wondered aloud why Ralph Macchio looked so different (that would be because it was Jaden Smith) and the back of the bus debated why they loved Smith so much.

With over three hours to kill on the ride to Albany, many of the women tuned into the movie, but just as many napped, legs sprawled across the aisle. It was a wonder how so many woke up just in time to defend the choice of “Charlie St. Cloud” as the second movie of the trip, which the coaches promptly rejected.

After checking into the hotel, the players got settled and after an hour or so, headed up to head coach Krista Kilburn – Steveskey’s room for a film session.

Assistant coach Jessica Mannetti, the lone holdover of Kilburn – Steveskey’s assistants from last year, led the session, showing the team clips of Albany’s past games and individual players strengths and weaknesses.

“We do tons of breakdown on their [Albany’s] offense, their defense, their player personnel, their characteristics, what they like to do and how we are going to stop them,” Mannetti said. “It takes a long time, I’d say a week, to get a complete scout done.”

After running through the opposing players, Mannetti showed the Pride many of the basic plays that Albany ran and how to defend them. “It really does help us out, obviously, to see what they’re doing and when we get out there, it helps because we know what is coming and nothing is unexpected,” said freshman guard Kate Loper.

Kilburn – Steveskey hopped on the computer soon after to go through broken down film of the team’s prior game, a victory at Seton Hall. This was the end of the fun for sophomore forward Candace Bond, who bore the brunt of the most the criticism from the Seton Hall game for not boxing – out and rebounding well. Bond sat glued to the screen, nodding at each point the coaches made.

“It is helpful because when the game comes I remember I got picked on for not boxing out,” Bond said. “So when the game comes I’m going to box out to make sure I don’t get picked on for that. I might get picked on for something else, next film session I won’t get picked on for boxing out.”

Junior guard Nicole Capurso and Uzamere were the two most outspoken players during film study. Capurso repeatedly asked questions about what was on the film, often receiving confirmation from the coaches for her observations. Uzamere had a different approach, reprimanding her teammates for their lack of help-side defense in the Seton Hall game.

“We understand each other,” Uzamere said. “So they know that if I scream or I say something that I don’t mean in any other way, [they know] I love all my teammates. So when we say something, it’s just us trying to help each other out.”

After film, the team headed over to the arena for a walk – through that was lighter than usual, as the team was in the middle of a stretch where it played three games in five days.

After stretching and jogging, Assistant Coach Bill Ferrara led the team through and attacking layups drill before handing practice over to Mannetti. Mannetti led the team through a review of Albany’s sets and how to defend them. The Chronicle was called into duty towards the end of practice, when Ferrara needed rebounders for a three – point shooting drill. The drill, which could only be described as high – speed and hectic, was a workout for our staff, but just another drill for the high – octane Pride.

Despite tiring out the accompanying journalists, the Pride remained well rested for the next day’s game. “If we didn’t need the rest we would have had a full down and back [scrimmage], a full quick break, regular, hour and a half practice,” Kilburn – Steveskey said.

Dinner at Outback Steakhouse was next on the itinerary, prepared by Director of Women’s Basketball Operations Michael Gibson, for the team. Dinner was a welcome reprieve from the chaotic game for the team, and an overly friendly waiter and a dessert dilemma made sure the players had a laugh.

Freshman forward Anma Onyeuku was celebrating a birthday, when Uzamere tried to steal away her cake. “On away trips we are not allowed to eat cake and stuff like that and fried food because it slows you down the next day for the game,” Uzamere said. “I was just joking. Coach K[ilburn – Steveskey] let her get that cake so I was just trying to snatch it from her.”

As the team laid to rest before the next day’s game, Gibson knew things were only halfway done. “Everything has to be down to the minute when you’re on the road, especially on longer ones,” Gibson said. “These are pretty easy [bus trips like Albany], the ones that are only one night.”

Gibson’s itinerary called for breakfast at nine in the morning on game day. Luckily for him, his team had breakfast this time.

“When little things go wrong, like a couple weeks ago when they didn’t have breakfast for us; that throws my whole day off,” Gibson said.

The team gathered in Kilburn – Steveskey’s room once again for a film session, this time a much quicker review before departing for one final practice before the game.

Practice was a slower paced walk – through once again, to save the team’s legs. The Pride was in the middle of a half-court shootout competition (teams are determined by what state you hail from) when Albany, led by coach Katie Abrahamson – Henderson, walked in exactly at 2:00, the scheduled time for Hofstra to finish, cueing the Pride to pack up and head back to the hotel.

The pregame meal, leniently called dinner, was a buffet in the hotel served at three P.M. The team ate, took a bit of time to relax and then headed over to the arena for the game.

With slightly over a half hour until tip – off, the team went back into the locker room. The coaches waited outside as the players took a few minutes to privately get into their zones. The coaches entered minutes later and Kilburn – Steveskey turned the talk over to her team.

Each of the five starters quickly discussed the matchup they were facing that night before Kilburn – Steveskey picked up the book Teammates Matter by former Wake Forest men’s basketball walk – on Alan Williams. She very calmly explained about the author and who he was and why she thought the book would be a good read for the team over winter break before reading a passage. Bypassing any Vince Lombardi inspired pre – game speech, Kilburn – Steveskey brought the entire team in for a pregame prayer before taking the court.

The Pride took a 47-29 lead into halftime, but Kilburn – Steveskey was not pleased by the way her team was playing. She urged the team to keep up its intensity in the second half and put the game away.

The Pride did put the game away, winning 90-60, and Kilburn – Steveskey heaped praise upon her players post game. She complimented the player’s stat lines and told her team that no one wanted to play them, using Ferrara’s comparison that it would be like facing a buzz saw.

The win was the sixth in a row for the Pride and made for a very happy bus ride home. “I’m just happy we are going home with a win,” Uzamere said. “That’s what we needed to do.”

The team finally was able to get some rest on the bus ride home, with most of the women falling asleep shortly after eating their snack. Mannetti did not sleep though; she was already watching film on Texas, a potential opponent for the Pride on a future road trip.

That road trip will be the same as this one. Planned down to the minute, packed with practice and film and teammates who are gladly dealing with one another every second of every day. Does winning breed chemistry or is it the other way around? On the road, the Pride has been winning and having great chemistry, just adding to the conundrum.