The Hofstra Pride women’s basketball team snapped its six-game winless streak after defeating the Northeastern University Huskies in a thrilling 63-62 victory. It came down to the wire, but the Pride battled their way to a road victory.
A huge reason why they were able to pull out a win was because of their fourth quarter surge. Going into the quarter, Hofstra was down double digits, and Coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey asked the team, “What kind of team are you going to be?”
They responded with resiliency.
Despite being down big throughout the majority of the game, Hofstra outscored Northeastern 25-11 in the fourth quarter to claw their way back in. In the biggest parts of the game, the Pride made the key plays they needed to make on both sides of the ball to help earn them the win.
Defensively, the Pride locked the Huskies down late in the contest. Northeastern couldn’t lay in a field goal during the last six and a half minutes and didn’t make any of their last 10 field goals. When it came down to crunch time, the Pride did what they had to do on the defensive side of the ball.
On the offensive side of the ball, the 25 points they scored in the fourth led them to come back from the 13-point deficit that they faced in the final frame. The biggest possession of the game came down to the last 20 seconds. Hofstra trailed by two with time ticking away, and Sica Cuzic made a terrific clutch play.
After Boogie Brozoski missed what would have been the game-tying layup, Cuzic tracked down the offensive board, sunk in the two pointer and got fouled in the process. Along with the huge shot, she nailed the free throw to give Hofstra the 63-62 lead with two seconds to go. Northeastern couldn’t get a shot off the last possession, and the Pride were able to lock up the one-point victory.
“We executed in our half court better down the stretch,” Kilburn-Steveskey said.
This win was their lone win in the month of February. The last time Hofstra won a game was back in January against this same Northeastern team. Ever since then, it’s been a disappointing month for the Pride. But the win for Hofstra brings them to an 8-18 overall record and they earned their second Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) win.
Brozoski led the game in scoring with her 20 points. She also had five rebounds and five assists.
“[Brozoski] had a good floor game for me,” Kilburn-Steveskey said.
Hofstra’s junior guard Ana Hernandez Gil tallied 12 points off of her four three-pointers, while Jaylen Hines and Sandra Karsten each racked up six points. Marianne Kalin controlled the boards with seven rebounds and Cuzic scored eight points off the bench, including the three most important points at the end of the game.
The 2018-19 season for women’s basketball has not been what the Pride was hoping for, as they have only been victorious in eight games now. This was only the Pride’s second win ever since the calendar flipped to 2019.
Looking ahead, Hofstra returns home to Hempstead to take on the College of Charleston Cougars on Friday, March 1. This is their first home game since Feb. 10, and Hofstra will look to use the momentum from Sunday’s game and use it as a push to finish strong during their final four games of the regular season.
Photo of Hofstra Athletics
