The Hofstra women’s basketball team took its second loss in a row on Monday, Dec. 30, falling 65-45 to Samford University in their final game of the Fordham Holiday Classic at Fordham University. In the two games it played in the tournament, the Pride was outscored by 30 points, losing by 10 against University of Houston just a day before the 20-point loss to the Bulldogs.

The 20-point disparity was largely due to a well-rounded team effort by Samford, which saw every player who stepped on the court score at least five points, with Sarah Myers and Charity Brown leading the way with 14 and 13, respectively.

Hofstra, on the other hand, was relatively short-handed production-wise, despite a season-high 13 points from Sandra Karsten and a 10-point effort from Marianne Kalin.

Starters JaKayla Brown and Shawn Mills were held to a mere two points through a combined 48 minutes on the floor, with Brown scoring the only bucket of the pair on 1-of-3 shooting.

The dominant display from the Bulldogs started early as they jumped out to an 11-2 lead within the first five minutes of the contest. Though the Pride was able to put together a few rallies in which they diminished the Bulldogs’ lead, but Samford’s persistence ultimately held up again and again. As shown in the 8-0 second quarter run that ended the first half with a 35-19 Samford lead, the Pride could close in, but never fully catch up.

Despite Hofstra’s best quarter coming in the third, as they shot 50% from the field while holding Samford to 3-of-13 shooting from the floor, the attack out of the break wasn’t enough as the game closed out with a commanding Samford lead, handing the Bulldogs the victory in the first-ever matchup between the two teams.

The Pride committed 23 turnovers in the game – nine more than Samford’s 14, hurting them in a game where they out-rebounded the Bulldogs, 27-26. Jaylen Hines grabbed a game-high 12 boards for Hofstra, doubling the amount of the next highest rebounders – Samford’s Brown and Myers, who each grabbed six.

Now 3-8 on the season, the Pride have just under a week to fix the kinks before beginning conference play.

The first Colonial Athletic Association game will be on Sunday, Jan. 5, when the Blue and Gold take a trip to Northeastern University to take on the Huskies.

Image courtesy of Hofstra Athletics