The Hofstra women’s basketball team dropped a Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) contest to the Elon University Phoenix 50-67 on Friday, Feb. 14, at Schar Center.

The loss is the 14th straight for Hofstra as the Pride drop to 3-20 on the season and 0-12 in the CAA.

“The next step for us is our mentality and having the competitive spirit and winner’s mentality to go out and win games,” said Hofstra head coach Danielle Santos Atkinson. “Also, to have the confidence in ourselves in what it is that we’re doing to be able go out there and fight at all costs.”

Both teams opened the game on runs as Elon started on an 8-0 run in the first two minutes before the Pride responded with a 9-0 run of their own following a timeout. Senior guard Sandra Karsten sparked the Pride offense by scoring Hofstra’s first five points. Karsten ended the game with 11 points and three rebounds.

With the Pride up 9-8, the Phoenix took back the lead for good with a 9-0 run. Elon ended the opening quarter up 17-9.

In the second quarter, Hofstra put together multiple sequences where they came within six points of the lead. However, Elon used another late run to go up 35-24 at the half.

A key focus for the Pride was reducing the number of turnovers in the game. Last matchup with Elon the Pride had 28 turnovers, this time they only had 12.

“I thought we did a better job taking care of the ball,” Santos Atkinson said. “Unfortunately, tonight we gave up offensive rebounds which has been our Achilles’ heel.”

The Phoenix controlled the second half, which led them to their third straight victory and records of 12-11 overall and 7-5 in the CAA.

Freshman guard Sorelle Ineza led the Pride with a season-high 16 points, going 6-of-12 from the field. Sophomore forward Caria Reynolds added seven points along with a game-high seven rebounds.

“[Reynolds] is an action-packed scorer and we know that about her. She can come in and really be a beast in the paint and she does a great job,” Santos Atkinson said. “She’s so agile and mobile defensively for us that she can move and create stops.”

For Elon, Kayla Liles led the way with 15 points and four rebounds while Saadia Munford added 13 points and five assists.

Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics