The Hofstra women’s basketball team advanced to the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) semifinals with a 77-67 overtime win over Towson University on March 11 at the Schar Center in Elon, NC. JaKayla Brown tied a career-high and led all scorers with 26 points while Jaylen Hines’ 14 rebounds were a game-high.
“They absolutely want it,” said Hofstra head coach Danielle Santos Atkinson. “Going into this game, we talked about toughness and how in tournament time, it’s about the tougher team. Who’s going to be not only mentally tough but physically tough and I think our team did that.”
In the extra session, Hofstra outscored Towson 17-7 and went 8-10 from the free-throw line. The Pride began overtime on an 8-2 run but Kiara Johnson’s three-point play reduced the lead to three. Jaala Henry’s jumper from the paint was the dagger and made the score 70-65 with 58 seconds to go. The Pride’s defense did the rest as neither team hit a field goal after that. “[Defense] is the identity of this team,” Santos Atkinson said. “I have a team full of competitors and that showed up on the defensive end of the floor. We want to get out in the passing lanes, we want to cause some havoc and we want to force turnovers.” Hofstra forced 26 turnovers in the game.
The fifth-seeded Pride began the game with a 5-0 run over the first couple of minutes. After Allie Kubek knocked down a three-pointer to get the fourth-seeded Tigers on the board, Hofstra went on another run, this time 7-0, to extend the lead to 12-3 just over four minutes in.
A Henry jumper put the Pride up 18-7 with 3:32 to go in the first quarter, the final basket of the quarter. The teams combined to go 0-7 to end the first.
After a back-and-forth start to the second quarter, Towson went on an 8-0 run to trim the Hofstra lead to nine. The Pride responded with a 6-0 run of their own to make it 35-24, but Aleah Nelson beat the buzzer from the paint to give the Tigers a single-digit deficit at halftime.
The teams combined for just 10 points in the first 5:55 after the break but Towson took over after that. The Tigers went on a 15-7 run in the last 4:05, capped off by Kionna Jeter’s layup with 33 seconds to go, to drop the Hofstra lead to three, 48-45.
Jeter opened up the fourth quarter with a triple eight seconds in to tie the game. Just 1:15 later, Shavonne Smith’s jumper gave Towson its first lead of the day, 50-48. The Tigers’ lead peaked at five, 55-50, just over three minutes into the quarter but the Pride kept it close and Hines gave them the lead 59-58 with 3:05 to go.
Jeter answered with a fastbreak jumper to give Towson a 60-59 lead. She fouled Brown on the next possession and the Hofstra junior hit one of two free throws to tie the game at 60 apiece with 2:10 remaining. That would be the end of the scoring in regulation as the teams combined to go 0-6 the rest of the way, including two missed shots by Towson in the dying seconds.
Hines added 16 points to her 14-rebound day for her fourth double-double of the season. Henry dropped 11 points while Jahsyni Knight had 13 points and a team-high nine assists. Zyheima Swint scored five points and all six of Hofstra’s bench points belong to Caria Reynolds.
Jeter led the Tigers with 19 points but was held scoreless in overtime. Nelson was the only other Tiger in double digits with 11 and she dished out 11 assists as well. Smith and Kubek put up nine points apiece and the latter added 11 rebounds.
The Pride will tip-off on Friday, March 12 against the top-seeded University of Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens at 2:30. It’s Hofstra’s fourth trip to the CAA semifinals in the last decade and the Pride will look to make it to the championship game for the first time since 2015.
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
