The Hofstra University women’s basketball team won their third straight game after defeating Monmouth University 75-67. This was the Pride’s first Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) conference victory. The Pride move back to 6-6 with a 1-0 conference record while the Hawks fell to 5-7 and 0-1 in CAA play.
After scoring a career-high 24 points in the previous game against Iona University, LaNae’ Corbett set a new career mark with 26 points on 12-of-18 shooting to go along with seven rebounds. Chloe Sterling trailed her with 14 points, four rebounds and four assists.
Corbett recorded a career-high in field goals attempted and field goals made in just 22 minutes of action as she continues to put in a stellar freshman season, averaging 25 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals over the last two games.
Both sides opened the game trading baskets with the score tied 16-16 with about two minutes left in the opening quarter. The Hawks managed to create some space finishing the period on a 6-0 run to take a 22-16 lead.
Monmouth outrebounded the Pride by four in the first, but Hofstra came out much more aggressive the rest of the way. From the second quarter on, the Pride outrebounded the Hawks by 16, mostly on the back of a season-high 13-rebound performance from Ramatoulaye Keita.
The graduate transfer from Gardner-Webb University had her best game of the season so far, recording season-highs with eight points, five blocks and 31 minutes played. Her five rejections are the most by anyone on the Pride in a single game so far this season as she continues to carve out a role on the team.
Keita got the Pride rolling on both sides of the court with back-to-back baskets to open the second quarter, recording a block on Monmouth’s Kemari Reynolds in-between.
Hofstra continued to battle throughout the quarter, finding their groove near halftime. The Pride ended the second quarter on a 7-0 run, capped off by an incredible half-court heave from Sterling that went in at the buzzer to give her side a 35-31 lead.
“They continued to play with confidence, and that’s one of the things we talked about,” said Hofstra head coach Danielle Santos Atkinson.
With the momentum swinging toward Hofstra at the end of the first half, Corbett took over in the second half. After scoring just three points through the first two quarters, the freshman center exploded for 16 points in the third quarter alone, finishing her electric run with an and-1 with 11 seconds left in the quarter.
Hofstra had a season-low six turnovers while forcing Monmouth into eight, scoring 13 points from them.
The Pride dominated the paint, both on the glass and with their inside scoring. The Pride scored 40 of their 75 points in the paint, while holding the Hawks to just 28 in the paint.
“The more we stay competitive, the more energy brought to this team, the better we played,” Santos said.
Hofstra looked to win their fourth game in a row as they travel to take on the University of Delaware for their second conference game of the season on Sunday, Jan. 5. Tipoff was set for 2 p.m.
