On Wednesday, Nov. 23, the Hofstra University women’s basketball team took the court against the Alliance University Warriors at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex and won 73-49. The Pride are now 2-2 overall and the Warriors are 0-2.

Alliance started off the scoring with senior Carly Bolivar making one of two free throws. Bolivar then went on to make a jumper before freshman Kayley Joseph-Bernard made the first layup for the Pride to get them on the board.

Bolivar made a layup to give the Warriors a three-point lead, but a 3-pointer by junior Ally Knights sparked a 13-0 run for the Pride to end the quarter. Freshman Emma Von Essen scored a jumper and a 3-pointer during Hofstra’s run to end the quarter with five total points. The Pride finished the quarter with a 15-5 lead.

At the start of the second quarter, Alliance went on an 8-0 run to get within one point of the Pride. Bolivar scored a fastbreak jumper and freshman Ashlyn Mesidor followed up with two made free throws to bring the score to 15-9. Bolivar scored another jumper and one before Mesidor finished off the drive with a jumper in the paint.

Freshman Alarice Gooden started the scoring for the Pride with a 3-pointer before sophomore Zaniyyah Ross-Barnes made the layup. The rest of the quarter was very back and forth between the two teams. The Pride was able to hold off the Warriors 26-19 to end the quarter.

Coming back from halftime, the Pride started the scoring immediately. Senior Sorelle Ineza kicked off the scoring with a jumper to pull the Pride ahead by nine. Alliance was able to get a jumper as well, but that sparked a 9-0 scoring drive by the Pride. Graduate student Brandy Thomas made her layup before junior Zyheima Swint converted one of her two free throws to bring the Pride ahead by 10. Ineza, Swint and Thomas each hit a layup to contribute to the 16 point lead the Pride held.

Hofstra only allowed Alliance to score four points after their scoring drive. The Pride ended the quarter leading 50-27 with the biggest lead of the game.

The fourth quarter started with a 3-pointer by Alliance’s graduate student Sasha Schoenborn. The Pride then went on a 10-0 scoring drive to increase their lead to 30 points. Graduate student Rosi Nicholson started the drive with a jumper and one. Ineza then scored a jumper before Nicholson capitalized on a 3-pointer to end the drive. Schoenborn interrupted the Pride’s scoring with a 3-pointer that lessened the deficit to 27.

 The rest of the quarter was back and forth between the two teams in terms of scoring. The Pride only allowed Alliance to score a total of 49 points which showed a strong defensive performance. Hofstra defeated the Warriors by 24 points.

Hofstra saw a season-best in field goals, field goal percentage and steals against the Warriors. They shot 31-70 field goals and 44.3%. They also had 13 total steals.

Hofstra returns to the court on Saturday, Nov. 26, at 3 p.m. against Wagner University away at the Spiro Sports Center at Staten Island, New York.
Photo courtesy of Neil Miller/Hofstra Athletics