Hofstra women’s basketball suffered its second consecutive defeat on Thursday, March 7, to Elon University, 55-52. Hofstra now falls to 9-20 on the season and 3-14 in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play.
It started off as a low-scoring first quarter for both sides as they were only able to score a combined total of 13 points between both teams. Neither side was able to catch a rhythm offensively and entered the halftime break 21-16 in favor of Elon.
“It was an abysmal first half for everybody. We set basketball back about 100 years for both teams,” Hofstra head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey said after the game. “No kid, whether it’s Elon or Hofstra, plans to come out and play like that … Both teams had 23-plus turnovers and only eight and seven assists.”
Hofstra came out of the halftime break playing better offensively, shooting 56 percent during the third quarter and outscoring Elon 18-17 to bring them within four heading into the last quarter of play.
“For us to kind of get back and have a really good third quarter … That was some adversity we had to overcome … We had an incredibly good third quarter,” Kilburn-Steveskey said.
In the final quarter of play, Elon was able to extend their lead to eight points with 8:11 remaining in the contest. The Pride then showed their resiliency to bring the score to 44 with just 4:10 left in the game behind key buckets from senior Boogie Brozoski, freshman Caria Reynolds and junior Marianne Kalin. From then on, the game was in the balance as Pride junior Ana Hernandez Gil refused to go out quietly, hitting a three-pointer to trim the lead to only two points and then later on getting fouled from beyond the arc and hitting all three crucial free throws to bring the game to within a point, but Elon still held onto the slim lead.
After two made free throws from the Phoenix to bring the lead to three points, the Pride’s comeback hopes were lost after Brozoski’s three to send the game to overtime just missed the mark.
“We [have] got to be tougher,” Kilburn-Steveskey said.
Kalin had an efficient 86 percent shooting from the field and tied a game high with 12 points for the Pride, while Hernandez Gil and Brozoski each added 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the team.
The Pride look to finish off the season strong with a win in their last regular season matchup against the College of William & Mary on Saturday, March 9, at 2:00 p.m. on the road.
Image Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
