CHARLESTON, S.C — The Hofstra women’s basketball team nearly pulled off the impossible, rallying from a 17-point halftime deficit only to fall just short in a 67-63 loss to the College of Charleston Cougars on Friday, Feb. 28, at TD Arena.
Redshirt sophomore Jaylen Hines did her best, leading the Pride with 30 points and 12 rebounds on 11-14 shooting from the field. Sorelle Ineza helped her teammate, adding 14 points, three rebounds and three assists in 34 minutes of play.
“She is very important to this team,” said Hofstra head coach Danielle Santos Atkinson. “She is a double-double every night when she wants to be. She knows that she has that ability, but she has to play with that confidence every possession and every time she touches the ball.”
The Pride outscored the Cougars 22-16 in the third quarter and 17-10 in the fourth quarter, putting together one of their best halves of the year. After allowing 20 turnovers in the first frame, the Pride made halftime adjustments and only gave the ball away six times the rest of the game.
“We played an unbelievable second half,” Santos Atkinson said. “All the things that we talked about changing we did.”
The contest was very reminiscent of the previous game between these two teams. In both outings, the Pride struggled early, made adjustments in the game and went on a ferocious comeback, only to fall just short. Both matchups ended with the ball in Ana Hernandez Gil’s hands, and she could not snag the victory once again.
Hernandez Gil had help, mainly from Hines, who had a career-game. She scored Hofstra’s first seven points and helped the Pride stay in it after 20 first-half turnovers.
The Cougars’ full-court press suffocated the Pride, creating problems and leading to countless giveaways. Hofstra finished the first quarter only down five points, even though Charleston had 15 more shots and eight more forced-turnovers.
The second quarter was much of the same. Charleston embarked on a 7-0 run in the final 1:22, giving them a 17-point halftime lead. Latrice Perkins ended the frame with 15 points on 7-8 shooting, adding three rebounds and two assists as well.
In the second half, the Pride made adjustments, eliminating turnovers and holding Perkins scoreless. This ignited the young Hofstra squad and foreshadowed how good this team could be if they put it all together for a full 40 minutes.
“Defensively, when we are clicking and doing a good job, we make it tough for teams to score,” Santos Atkinson said. “We force tough contested shots outside the paint.”
After Ineza tallied a third quarter buzzer beater, the Pride entered the final 10 minutes down only 11 points. Ineza again scored a huge basket early in the fourth quarter, cutting the lead to single-digits.
The Pride kept pushing and it was a two-point game with 38 seconds left. Hofstra had the ball with 11.6 seconds remaining in the game after forcing a turnover, but Hernandez Gil missed the game-deciding shot to send the Pride on another bus ride back to the hotel without a victory.
Hofstra is now 3-34 overall and 0-15 in conference play, while Charleston improved to 12-14 with five Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) wins. The Cougars swept the season series and earned their seventh win all-time against the Pride.
“If we can put four quarters together like we did in that second half, it will be really fun to play what we consider our best basketball,” Santos Atkinson said.
After another loss, the Pride will look for their first CAA victory when they battle the University of North Carolina Wilmington Seahawks on the road at 7 p.m. on Sunday, March 1.
Photo courtesy of Charleston Athletics
