The Hofstra women’s basketball team was defeated by the College of Charleston Cougars 75-35 at the TD Arena in Charleston, South Carolina, on Thursday, Mar. 3. With the loss, Hofstra fell to 6-19 and 3-14 within Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play.
Hofstra was unable to get anything going from the start, as Charleston took a 16-4 lead to begin the first quarter before Hofstra called a timeout. Hofstra was able to cut the deficit to 18-12 before a disastrous second quarter that saw the Pride outscored 22-4. The highlight of the quarter was a 12-0 run from Charleston, which went into the intermission leading 40-16.
“We had a very slow start,” said Hofstra head coach Danielle Santos Atkinson. “When we allow that many turnovers and we give them the ball that many possessions, it’s very hard to overcome. When we give up that many points and transition off turnovers, it’s very hard to overcome.”
Costly turnovers were indeed the theme of the first half for Hofstra as they coughed up possession 16 times, compared to just seven by Charleston. Their lone bright spot on the scoring end was Jaylen Hines, who led the team with eight points while shooting 4-6. Hofstra shot just 32% from the field, which included an abysmal 2-12 in the second quarter. They did not sink a single three pointer in five attempts. Meanwhile, Latrice Perkins led Charleston with 10 points as the Cougars took a commanding lead going into the second half.
Hofstra managed to make it a competitive third quarter, as they were only outscored 13-11. Unfortunately, they were unable to keep up in the fourth quarter, which began with a 15-3 run by Charleston who outscored the Pride 22-8 in the quarter and held on for the 75-35 win. Hofstra never led once in the game.
“I think we lost our confidence, got a little frustrated and rattled there in the beginning,” Santos Atkinson said. “[We] tried to come back and obviously came up in the end not playing our best game.”
Despite cleaning up their turnover issues in the second half, Hofstra only shot 25% from the field, and went just 3-16 in the fourth quarter. Charleston refused to let up, as they shot 41.9% from the field in the half, while going 6-15 on three pointers.
Hines recorded a double-double in the game for the Pride, notching 16 points on 7-13 shooting to along with 13 rebounds, leading the team in both categories. She could have potentially gone for more, had she not fouled out with 4:13 left to go in the game. Jaala Henry finished with six points, eight rebounds and four assists. Jahsyni Knight added eight rebounds of her own, and Zyheima Swint had another seven.. Anika McGarity led the Charleston scorers with 17 points and went 5-6 from behind the arc. She was one of four Charleston players who had points in the double figures. Charleston’s three-point shooting was a major catalyst, as they finished 10-36 for the game compared to just 1-13 from Hofstra.
“We’ve got to have more pose and composure,” Santos Atkinson said. “That’s the biggest thing We’ve got people that can handle the ball on the floor. We had a plan again of how we would handle that pressure, but we allowed some of that frustration to creep in.”
Hofstra will look to bounce back at UNC-Wilmington (UNCW) in the final game of the regular season on Saturday, Mar. 4.
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
