The Hofstra women’s basketball team dropped their 19th straight loss and final regular season game to the Northeastern University Huskies 62-54 on Saturday, March 7, at the David S. Mack Sports & Exhibition Complex.
The Pride finish their regular season with a 3-26 overall record and finish winless in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play.
It was senior day for the Pride and a pregame ceremony took place to acknowledge graduating players Petja Krupenko, Sandra Karsten, Ana Hernandez Gil and Marianne Kalin as they played their final regular season game in a Hofstra uniform.
The first quarter saw no points from either team for about two minutes until Northeastern’s Alexis Hill got the first basket of the game. The first points of the game for the Pride came from Hernandez Gil, as she knocked down a three-pointer. She finished with eight points in 17 minutes played. After a media timeout with 4:44 remaining in the first frame, Northeastern went on a 10-2 run. The Pride bounced back thanks to buckets by Karsten and Jaylen Hines. The first quarter ended with the Huskies leading 21-14.
The bench players dominated the second quarter for the Pride, with Caria Reynolds opening the scoring. JaKayla Brown contributed five points in the first three minutes.
“We’ve got great players that come off the bench and contribute, and they did that tonight,” said Hofstra head coach Danielle Santos Atkinson. “Those that came off the bench did a great job.”
Halftime saw a 39-27 Northeastern lead. The biggest difference in the first half was in three-point shooting: the Huskies shot 70% from three-point range, while the Pride only shot 23.1%.
The start of the second half saw a more aggressive Hofstra team. The Pride played well defensively, causing three turnovers that sparked a 6-0 run in the first three and a half minutes. Northeastern missed their first seven shots of the quarter.
“We did some things defensively to try to force a few more turnovers from them,” Santos Atkinson said. “If we didn’t turn them over, we were able to force them into a rushed shot.”
The Pride outscored the Huskies 17-11 in the third and shot 75% from the field. Three-pointers from Hernandez Gil and Karsten cut the lead to two. This was followed by a 4-0 run from Northeastern to give the Huskies a 50-44 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Karsten finished with a season high of 14 points, along with two rebounds and two assists. After the game, Karsten was overcome with emotion as she described how much the team has meant to her over the last four years.
“It’s like a family,” she said. “You spend every day with them, so you become really close. It’s just nice that you get to have this one last day with your team.”
The first three minutes of the fourth quarter saw eight turnovers, with only one basket coming from Hines. She finished with eight points and 10 rebounds. The Pride was not able to overcome their deficit as Northeastern responded to nearly every basket that they made. The Huskies ended their six-game losing streak with a 62-54 win over the Pride.
The CAA tournament starts on Wednesday, March 11, as Hofstra enters as the No. 10 seed to face the host, No. 7 seed Elon University Phoenix.
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
