Despite a late 7-0 rally to bring the Pride within one point, the Hofstra women’s basketball team couldn’t come out of the David S. Mack Sports & Exhibition Complex with a second consecutive win against the Northeastern University Huskies on Saturday, Jan. 9, as they fell by a score of 54-53.
After the Huskies forced a held ball that kept possession with the Pride with 3.9 seconds left, and an errant inbounds pass that resulted in a kicked ball violation taking 0.3 seconds off the clock, Hofstra junior JaKayla Brown received the final inbounds pass but was unable to get a clean shot off as time ran out on the game. Despite scoring zero points in the first half, a strong second half performance saw Brown finish the game with eight points while shooting 2-of-4 from the 3-point line.
“Initially [on the final play] where we wanted the ball to go was wide open, but then the ball got kicked,” said Hofstra head coach Daniele Santos Atkinson. “We ran it the second time, they covered it, and the secondary option went to JaKayla.”
The Pride’s scoring run that brought them to the end of the game was preceded by a similar run from the Huskies that ballooned their lead to eight points with 2:36 remaining. After junior Jahsyni Knight hit two free throws for the Pride to cut Northeastern’s advantage to 48-46, the Huskies’ Mossi Staples put in a layup off an assist from Ayanna Dublin. Just 12 seconds later, Stella Clarke forced a Hofstra turnover that paved the way for her made jumper in the paint on the other end. The next points scored came from Staples, who made two free throws to bring their lead to 54-46.
Redshirt junior Jaylen Hines led all scorers with 19 points, marking her seventh consecutive game posting double figures in scoring, and grabbed 11 rebounds for a double-double. Hines found success at the free throw line, where she went 10-of-13, and also earned a game-high three steals. Redshirt junior Jaala Henry added 12 points and nine rebounds, and the team’s efforts on the glass were further contributed to by juniors Rosi Nicholson and Knight and redshirt senior Mikiyah Croskey, who grabbed seven, six and six, respectively.
For the Huskies, Staples, Clarke and Mide Oriyomi all scored in double figures. Staples was the most efficient scorer on either squad, shooting 4-of-8 from the field and 2-of-4 from beyond the arc en route to her 13 points.
The biggest area of concern for the Pride was taking care of the ball: four Hofstra players finished the game with at least three turnovers, and the team as a whole committed 22. The Huskies were plagued by similar struggles, having 18 turnovers of their own.
“We’ve [recently] done a better job of taking care of the ball, and I think in this game we lost sight of that and got away from some of the things that we had been doing really well,” Santos Atkinson said. “We didn’t start the game off [at] our best. We kind of eased into the game, and we can’t ease into games. We’ve got to come out aggressive on both ends.”
Despite the loss, the Pride looked dominant on the boards, outrebounding the Huskies 46-29. On the offensive glass, the Pride held a 19-10 advantage and in turn came up with 18 second-chance points. The team set a new season-high in rebounds, and has posted more than 30 rebounds in nine of their 10 games played.
“It’s our identity,” Santos Atkinson said, “and one of our identities is being a great rebounding team and going to get those offensive rebounds. It’s an intentional effort by this team to go get it every time, knowing that we can convert to points.”
The loss settled the Pride’s two-game series with the Huskies at 1-1 and their season record has fallen to 4-6. They now sit even in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play with a record of 2-2. Their next game will be the first of two back-to-back contests hosting the University of Delaware at the Mack on Saturday, Jan. 16 at 2 p.m.
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
