In Hofstra’s last game before the CAA tournament, the Pride women’s basketball team fell to the Northeastern Huskies 58-54 Saturday in Boston.
The season finale was Hofstra’s second loss to Northeastern in three games, losing by five in the first game and then by four in the second.
With star player Jess Genco returning from an ankle injury, Northeastern was packed with ammunition that Hofstra hadn’t yet seen this season.
Genco’s impact was seen from the start, where early on she was picking her spots offensively and dishing to open teammates that converted on open looks. She finished with a team high 17 points and six assists.
Gabby Giacone was one of the beneficiaries for the Huskies, finishing the game with 16 points on 6-13 shooting. Gianone also had a big day on the glass, grabbing 10 rebounds alongside Loren Lassiter who grabbed 12 rebounds herself.
“We got crushed on the boards. We were gambling on some aspects, playing off of Lassiter at times, and therefore it was hard to recover back. That was the game plan so Giacone couldn’t have a field day,” said Hofstra head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey.
Hofstra’s focus on Giacone allowed Lassiter to thrive on the glass, as missed shots would come her way resulting in easy second chance shots and drawn fouls.
Northeastern outrebounded the Pride on offensive boards 18-6 giving them second chance opportunities that ended up greatly hurting Hofstra.
Offensively, the Pride had trouble mustering anything up. Although Boogie Brozoski scored a game-high 19 points and not much production came from elsewhere. Olivia Askin went 1-8 from beyond the arc, with E’Lexus Davis only going 1-6 from the field.
Despite coming back from a 14-point deficit in the third quarter, the five-point margin Hofstra got it to didn’t shrink due to the inability to convert on opportunities offensively.
“We went dry. We had some absolutely wide-open looks. On the other end we went for a while holding them. It was a five-point margin for a long time,” Kilburn-Steveskey said.
Despite the inefficiencies, Aleana Leon managed to get on the board with 11 points while both Marianne Kalin and Mikiyah Croskey finished with eight points and combined for nine rebounds.
“I thought we played hard, but as I explained to them, the margin of error is small. And we had undisciplined times by different people,” Kilburn-Steveskey said.
The loss closes Hofstra’s regular season with a 5-13 conference record. That places them in the seventh seed heading into the CAA tournament.
The Pride will face off against 10- seed Charleston to kick off the tournament. The opening round will be on March 7 at 4:30 p.m.
