The Hofstra University women’s basketball team will welcome the College of Charleston Cougars to Hempstead on Friday, Feb. 23, for their only regular-season meeting. The Pride have won two of their last three games and sit at 9-14 overall with a 3-9 mark in conference play, while the Cougars are riding a three-game winning streak which has brought them to 17-6 and a 9-3 conference record.
Charleston’s nice run of form since the calendar turned to February has propelled them into third place in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA), with convincing wins over the University of North Carolina Wilmington, Campbell and Hampton University, as well as a tight victory over North Carolina A&T State University.
Senior guard Jenna Annecchiarico has been Charleston’s leader throughout this entire season despite missing all but one game last season with a knee injury. Annecchiarico leads the Cougars in minutes per game, steals per game and assists per game. She is their second leading scorer with 15.1 points per contest. With 6.4 assists per game, she is seventh in the country. Her recent efforts have been especially impressive, earning her CAA player of the week honors two weeks in a row.
The Cougars also have the CAA’s leading scorer on their roster. Freshman guard Taryn Barbot has put up 16.3 points per game on nearly 40 percent shooting in her first season, along with a team-leading 5.9 rebounds per game. Barbot has been among the top first-year players in the conference this season, taking home six Rookie of the Week honors – by far the most in the CAA.
Jada Logan has also stepped up her scoring in February, leading Charleston in scoring twice and improving to 13 points per game as opposed to 11.3 over this recent stretch. Logan has struggled offensively in road games, however, with her field goal percentage dropping from an efficient 43% to 31.7%, and her three-point percentage dropping to a meager 19%.
The Pride has seen Sorelle Ineza come alive in the past three weeks after an inconsistent start to the season. So far, Ineza has scored double figures every game this month, topping out at 16 points in a loss to Delaware. Her impressive scoring streak can be largely attributed to her consistent free throw shooting, with an 82.4% success rate from the charity stripe. The senior guard is now the team’s second leading scorer behind Emma Von Essen.
Von Essen has continued to be a scoring threat at all three levels for the Pride. Her consistent 3-point shooting has been a sparkplug for the Hofstra offense. Von Essen is averaging 13.3 points per game with 40.3% shooting.
Zyheima Swint and Ally Knights round out the top contributors for Hofstra. Swint is the CAA’s leading rebounder with 8.3 rebounds per game and has had four double-doubles this season. Meanwhile, Knights leads the Pride in assists with 3.5 per game and steals with 1.3 per game.
Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex.
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics/Evan Bernstein
