The Hofstra women’s basketball team’s season is over following a 69-48 loss to the Towson University Tigers in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championship semifinals on Friday, March 15. The Pride was unable to overcome a second quarter surge by the Tigers.
After a first quarter that ended with Towson holding a close 14-10 lead, the Tigers outscored Hofstra 29-7 in the second period to take a commanding 26-point lead into halftime. The scoring outburst set a new CAA Championship record for most points scored in a single quarter.
“I thought we let their run get to us a little bit, but that’s just a lesson learned,” said senior guard Boogie Brozoski. “I think this is a great learning experience. Even though it didn’t end the way we wanted … [We] learned a lot from this experience.”
This semifinals loss comes a day after ninth-seeded Hofstra knocked off top-seeded James Madison University in a historic upset.
“Even if we had the struggles we had throughout the year, to be able to find enough resiliency to pull it together to get it to this point, I can’t be even more proud,” said Hofstra head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey.
There just wasn’t enough magic left in the tank for the Pride. Overall, the offense was never able to get off the ground in this game. Two days after scoring 77 points, they managed just 17 points in the first half – shooting 20 percent (6-for-30) overall and 18 percent (2-for-11) from three. They also had three times as many turnovers (12) as they did assists (four).
Things improved slightly in the second half as the Pride outscored Towson 31-26, but the deficit was too great to overcome.
“We didn’t have that spark … We just needed that extra person today,” Kilburn-Steveskey said. “To have 62 [shot] attempts to their 48, [if] you see [the ball] going in, we’re all having a different conversation.”
Hofstra did indeed have 62 shot attempts, with only 17 of them finding the bottom of the net. The struggles were highlighted by their 4-for-21 mark from the three-point line. The teams combined to have 47 turnovers and 110 shot attempts in the fast-paced, sloppy matchup.
Sophomore Jaylen Hines led the Pride in scoring with 17 points, including going 3-for-4 from the charity stripe. Brozoski scored 12 points but struggled from the field, going 5-for-16 and shooting zero free throws.
Towson was led by junior Nukiya Mayo, who poured in 15 points in the first half on 6-for-9 shooting to help the Tigers build their lead. She finished with 22 points.
Hofstra ends their season with an 11-22 record, while Towson (19-12) will go on to play in the CAA championship game.
This was the final game in a Hofstra uniform for Brozoski and her fellow senior Sica Cuzic. Brozoski has been the driving force for the Pride over the past two seasons, averaging 15 points, 3.9 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game. In Hofstra’s first round matchup against Elon earlier this week, Brozoski dropped 42 points and eclipsed the 1,000 point mark in her career.
Though her time at Hofstra has come to an end, Brozoski is already looking forward to next year’s team.
“I know my team. They’ll come back next year … and they’ll do the same we did this year and even better,” she said.
Image courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
