The Hofstra Pride women’s basketball team returned to the court on Sunday, Jan. 9, falling on the road to the Northeastern University Huskies by a score of 64-51 in their first Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) game of the season.
The Pride trailed the Huskies 17-12 after the first quarter, with Hofstra shooting an efficient 42% from the field after one.
Northeastern held its largest lead of the first half in the second quarter, leading by 11 points over the Pride, until Hofstra beat the buzzer with a three-point shot by Jahsyni Knight, to bring the deficit down to eight8 heading into the half. The Pride struggled to get in a rhythm during the second, as Hofstra shot only 21% from the field.
In the third, the Pride and the Huskies continued to trade baskets early on, until Northeastern extended their second-half lead to 14, up 49-35 going into the fourth. The story was the same in the fourth quarter, with the Huskies answering Hofstra’s comeback attempts every time, and took taking home the conference victory.
“Going into this game we knew it’d be tough, we knew we’d have some challenges,” said Hofstra head coach Danielle Santos Atkinson. “We’re coming off of not having played a game in a month. All week we’ve practiced with four people, we’ve got people out of isolation as soon as yesterday, so we knew coming into this game it would be tough, but we talked about not using any of those things as excuses. We’re all going through the same thing, whether it’s injury or covid[COVID-19].”
Northeastern was led by Kendall Currence, who had three3 steals to go along with her 13 points from the floor. Emily Calabrese also scored in double-figures, adding 11 points for the night.
Meanwhile, for the Pride, Selma Markisic had a career-high 15 points, knocking down three3 three-point shots in the freshman’s first collegiate start. Sorella Ineza scored nine9 points, and Zyheima Swint contributed seven7 points, eight8 rebounds, and three3 blocks on the night.
“Selma came out and she played well, she played really well offensively,” Santos Atkinson said. “She’s been one of our players that’s had the opportunity to play throughout this last week and be in practice, so I think she had much more of a rhythm than some of our other crew that’s out there on the floor.”
The loss dropped Hofstra to 3-6 on for the season and 0-1 in CAA play. The Pride will continue conference play on Friday, Jan. 14, on the road again to take on the University of Delaware.
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics