By PJ Potter — SPORTS EDITOR
The Hofstra women’s basketball team suffered a tough 70-60 loss to Siena Monday night in Hempstead.
Turnovers were the main issue. The Pride (4-4) could not resolve against the Saints, giving up the ball 23 times in the contest. This led to 19 points in transition for Siena – a hole the Pride could not dig themselves out of.
“We just got outplayed and that was very frustrating,” Hofstra head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey said. “Siena came in here and did a good job and we did not respond.”
Hofstra, however, made it close down the stretch, even taking the lead for the first time overall in the fourth quarter. After a steal and fast break layup by Aleana Leon, E’Lexus Davis followed up with a smooth shimmy around a Siena defender, laying it in to give the Pride a 56-55 lead.
That lead would not hold strong. The Saints then went on a 15-4 run in the final four and a half minutes to close out the matchup. On top of Hofstra’s struggle to hold onto the ball, it just seemed everything fell in favor of Siena. Several pass deflections from either side ricocheted the ball in front of a Saints player, leading to an easy bucket on a fast break or creating a new play, leaving someone wide open.
“[We were] a second short,” Kilburn-Steveskey said.
To make matters worse, Aaliyah Jones nailed a buzzer-beating three-pointer to end the third quarter, extending Siena’s lead to 10. It just was not Hofstra’s day.
Siena built on this, too. If something wasn’t working for them, they tried something else. They had trouble driving the lane in the opening minutes, so they started to spread the floor on shot selections, leading to four players tallying double-digit points.
Maddie Sims battled all night for the Saints, logging 15 points on 7-10 shooting, adding eight rebounds. In 24 minutes, Jones played big throughout. Despite her 13-point performance, she was all over the court – snagging four steals and disrupting any pass that Hofstra tried to zip past her, as if she knew exactly where the ball was going at all times.
For the Pride, Ashunae Durant posted her third double-double of the season, going for 10 points and 14 rebounds. Davis finished with an interesting night. Going into halftime with three points and six turnovers, she adjusted extremely well, ending with 18 points total while only turning the ball over twice in the second half.
Hofstra returns to action Dec. 7 on the road against Iona.
