After a strong showing in Friday night’s opener against Marist College, the Hofstra women’s basketball team hits the road for the latest chapter in the “Battle of Long Island,” taking on Long Island-rival Stony Brook tonight.
The Seawolves had a less-than-stellar start to the 2016-17 season, falling to Iona College 57-46 on Friday night.
Senior guard Kori Bayne-Walker led Stony Brook with 17 points, and fellow senior Elizabeth Manner chipped in 13.
Unfortunately for the Seawolves, those two accounted for 30 of the team’s 46 points. The offense was lackluster for Stony Brook, shooting just 16.7 percent from deep, on 4-24 shooting from beyond the arc.
On the defensive end, Stony Brook held the Gaels to just 57 points, which is a pretty good night for the defense. Iona didn’t shoot much better, but it didn’t really have to.
Hofstra and Stony Brook met last year at the Mack Sports Complex, a game that Hofstra won by a 71-66 score. Hofstra was led by 26 points from departed shooting guard Kelly Loftus, but Ashunae Durant also had a huge game, scoring 16 points and grabbing 15 rebounds.
This year’s contest probably won’t be as high-scoring as last year’s. Loftus was Hofstra’s best shooter, and her ability to score points in bunches is an asset that Hofstra may not have this season, at least not right now.
Hofstra’s defense, however, is still as stout as ever, evidenced by holding a pretty good Marist offense to just 42 points on Friday night.
Hofstra may have an issue with covering Manner, a 6-foot-1 forward who could shoot the jumper.
Against Marist, Hofstra had problems covering Maura Fitzpatrick, a very similar player to Manner. It’ll be the matchup to watch as Hofstra should be able to shut down the outside shot and keep scoring to a minimum.
If Durant could continue her hot start, and Hofstra’s outside shooters could knock down a couple three-pointers, Stony Brook’s offense won’t have the juice to keep up, and Hofstra should be able to close the latest chapter of the “Battle of Long Island” with a win.
