Mike Rudin – Sports Editor
The Hofstra Pride tore apart the College of Charleston Cougars 78-53 to start conference play in the Colonial Athletic Association. The Pride improved to 8-4 (1-0, CAA) while College of Charleston dropped to 2-10 (0-1, CAA) as well as dipped to 0-6 on the road.
“It was a great team win for our first CAA conference game,” said head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey. “I’m just very excited to take care of business here at home.”
Hofstra won their first match against College of Charleston in program history. The Cougars joined the CAA prior to the 2013-14 season and defeated the Pride in two games in the prior year. But the third time was the charm for the Pride.
Junior Jakelle King-Gilchrist led the Pride offense off the bench with 19 points in 22 minutes. Anjie White had her first double-double in her collegiate career with 11 points matching her 11 rebounds.
“It’s exciting,” said White. “I’m just scratching the surface and I’m ready to do more to help my team.”
Kilburn-Steveskey commented on White stepping up. “You see physically what she offers and she has a really good knack about find gaps…She’s a really good passer too.”
King-Gilchrist shared some insight on how she was so successful scoring on the court to lead the Pride against the Cougars. “They weren’t really paying attention to everybody on the court. They were leaving a lot of us open and I found the gaps a lot where I can catch the ball and just go. I used my confidence in attacking.”
In the beginning minutes of the match, the score was tied at two different points between Hofstra and Charleston, but the Pride controlled the game and led the game for 39 minutes-and-16 seconds.
Hofstra’s lead began to flourish after a 16-2 run in a span of five minutes-and-14 seconds within the first ten minutes of the game.
Hofstra made great use of their depth, as the bench scored 22 points in the half, and attacked relentlessly down low with twice the points in the paint over CofC (16-8).
Pride players Jakelle King-Gilchrist, Anjie White, and Ashunae Durant put tremendous pressure on the Cougars early with excellent execution, compiling a 10-for-14 ratio inside the arc and weaving through Charleston’s defense.
The immense scoring by the Pride was a clear threat for the Cougars, and forced the team to take difficult shots, which led to constant mistakes Charleston couldn’t afford.
Charleston shot 7-for-28 (33 percent) as a unit in the first 20 minutes, their usual top scorer Erin Hall went 1-for-5, while guard Shiclasia Brown struggled, shooting 2-for-7 in the half.
Hofstra ended the first half on a high note as well, hitting four of their last five scoring attempts to put the Pride ahead by 19 at halftime.
Charleston’s lack of depth showed as the team didn’t score a single point from the bench, the Pride defense kept the Cougars off-balanced and limited to 18 points in the first half.
The second half was a continuation of the same themes as the first. Once the period started, Hofstra maintained their lead over double figures throughout. The Pride’s bench repeated their scoring numbers from the first half to outscore Charleston’s bench 22-0 again.
Hofstra scored 41 points in the second half to maintain their separation from the Cougars. Thus, piling up Charleston’s struggles and killing their morale at the end when it was virtually impossible for the Cougars to comeback, despite scoring 35 points in the half.
Despite a two minute-51 second drought in the middle of the second period, the Pride continued to score off the bench, in the paint and through fast breaks. These three categories were Hofstra’s biggest strengths in the game, a 44-0 point-difference from the bench, 32-18 difference from inside the paint and 10-2 difference through fast breaks.
“They definitely don’t have the depth we have and we try to use that as our advantage,” said Steveskey. “To have this advantage it’s a nice one. I haven’t had this luxury in nine years being here at Hofstra.”
Hofstra also took advantage off the glass with 43 total rebounds – 30 were defensive and 13 were offensive – while Charleston got 25 off the boards. Assists also played into Hofstra’s favor, outmatching the Cougars 23-9.
Elo Edeferioka reached double digits scoring with 10 points to be the third Pride player to score double figures in the game. Edeferioka made 9 rebounds off the glass, one shy of a double-double of her own.
Darius Faulk contributed by leading the Pride in assists with seven and scored 8 points.
“That’s what we need,” said Steveskey. “We need four to five people in double figures for us to win all the games.”
Hofstra’s next matchup will be another home game against CAA opponent Northeastern University. The game is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m.
