TOWSON, M.D. – The Hofstra women’s basketball team’s postseason run came to an end in a 74-64 defeat at the hands of the College of William & Mary in the quarterfinal round on Friday, March 10.
“I just can’t say enough of how proud I am of this group,” said Hofstra head coach Danielle Santos Atkinson. “They battled, they came ready to go, they came prepared, they came locked in; for the first time this year we saw what this team could do. We saw what this team was about. We saw what this team was capable of.”
Graduate student Brandy Thomas, senior Sorelle Ineza and freshman Emma Von Essen all contributed double digit points for the team’s last game of the season, with 23, 17 and 13 points respectively.
The score was 26-21 at halftime, but both teams scored more in the third quarter than in the entire first half, showcasing how much the team was ready to fight tooth and nail to stay in the tournament.
“We weren’t as aggressive in the second quarter as we had been in the first, so in the third quarter we just wanted to attack and be aggressive and play more free offensively,” Atkinson explained.
As the de facto final game of the season, it was a tough goodbye for some of the senior members of the team.
“Those are my sisters,” Thomas said. “I’m going to always have their back; they’re always going to have me.”
Other seniors include Jada Peacock and Rosi Nicholson, who had a lasting impact on the team environment.
“They have just been such a special part of our program,” Atkinson said. “They’ve been through all the ups and downs of our first few years, through COVID, through injuries, through all of it, and the way they have continued to stay the course, the way they’ve continued to be positive lights on our program, has just been phenomenal.”
Despite the loss, the Hofstra head coach remains optimistic for what this postseason run means for the future.
“I’m looking forward to the momentum that this run is going to give us going into the next year as we look to reload and bring in new pieces and take up right where we left off,” Atkinson said.
Photo courtesy of Rafael Suanes/CAA
