The Hofstra women’s basketball team fell to UNC-Wilmington (UNCW) by the score of 61-51 in their last regular-season contest at home in the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex on Sunday, March 3.
Hofstra found themselves up by four at halftime but fell apart both on offense and defense in the second half of the game, losing on an emotional night for both the home fans and the players as the program said goodbye to the graduating players on Senior Night.
The team wanted to see seniors Boogie Brozoski and Sica Cuzic leave the arena with a victory, but UNCW had their own agenda that evening. The Pride got off to a good start, opening up the game with a 5-0 lead. The Seahawks did not get on the board until three minutes had passed in the game, but quickly caught up and ended the first quarter tied at 11. Both sides continued their even play into the second quarter, leading to the teams going into halftime with Hofstra slightly ahead, 27-23.
Neither team was shooting the ball well from the field in the first half, but in the second half UNCW began to drive the ball more and take more shots in the paint. UNCW senior Chinyere Bell began rebounding the ball and finishing through contact in the second half to give her team the lead late in the third quarter.
At the end of the third quarter of play, the Pride found themselves down by three after shooting a mere 11 percent from the field in the quarter. Hofstra went 0-8 from the three-point line, missed a lot of shots under the rim and only managed to score seven points to UNCW’s 14 in the quarter.
From then on, UNCW never looked back as they outscored the Pride 24-17 in the final quarter to come away with another win on the season.
“We let our offense affect our defense. We weren’t making shots, but we also weren’t getting stops at the same time,” Brozoski said.
Hofstra was out-hustled in the second half on the glass, losing the rebound battle 42-31 though it had been even at 17 after the first half of play. Bell had all 16 of her points and 10 of her 11 rebounds in the second half, which provided the spark for UNCW to get the road win.
The leading scorers for Hofstra were the two seniors – Brozoski finished with 12 points and Cuzic added 11.
“We certainly wanted to honor these two … their presence, what they bring as an individual, as people that are an inspiration to the program,” said head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey after the tough loss.
With the loss, the Pride now fall to 9-19 on the season and 3-13 in Colonial Athletic Association play. Hofstra will look to bounce back on Thursday, March 7, as they travel to Elon University for the first of two remaining road games in their regular season.
