The Hofstra University women’s basketball team kept its momentum rolling, winning the quarterfinal game of the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) Women’s Basketball Tournament against Campbell University 55-50. Hofstra is now the first 10 seed in CAA Women’s Basketball Tournament history to make the semi-finals.
“Every single time I have an opportunity to talk about the character of the young ladies on this team, I’m gonna do it,” said Hofstra head coach Danielle Santos Atkinson. “They have continued to show up day after day after day. I’m just so proud of the way they have fought, the way they stuck to the game plan and their preparation.”
It was a rough start for both teams, with wild turnovers and missed opportunities all over. Despite that, Sandra Magolico had one of the best starts in a game all season, scoring six of Hofstra’s eight points without a miss in the first quarter. Each quarter of the game featured a member of the Pride showing out. A 6-0 Campbell run would put them ahead, finishing out the quarter up 10-8. The Pride ended the first quarter with seven turnovers but they also forced five.
Hofstra grabbed the momentum early in the second quarter, retaking the lead with a spinning and-one from Alarice Gooden. Gooden continued her strong quarter with a 3-pointer off a Michaela Hodge offensive rebound. Gooden forced a charge on the other end, firing up the Pride bench. Magolico grabbed three steals in the quarter, with her last steal leading to a buzzer-beater 3-point shot by Chloe Sterling, which put the Pride up 25-20 heading into the half.
Magolico continued her dominant defensive game with a fourth and final steal in the third quarter, finishing on the other end in transition to put Hofstra up six. The Pride ended the quarter up 39-32, with Campbell missing 10 straight 3-point shots; they finished the quarter shooting 2-17.
After 11 straight misses, Jasmine Felton kick-started a 7-0 Campbell run to tie the game at 44 apiece with just three minutes remaining. The next two minutes featured no buckets from either side, but Ema Karim – with a little over a minute and a half left – put an end to that with a 3-pointer. Gooden showcased her clutch gene with a circus hop-step layup after the Pride forced two misses on the possession prior, putting Hofstra up by five with 40 seconds to go. After the Camels couldn’t get their layup to go, it was a series of free throws for the Pride, going 6-8 from the line to put the game out of reach.
Hofstra rocked their black and pink breast cancer awareness jerseys for the tournament. The jerseys have brought luck to the Pride as of late. This season, the Pride are 4-0 in games where they wear these jerseys, with wins over Hampton University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Towson University and now Campbell.
In their last matchup against Hofstra, Campbell lit it up from beyond the arc shooting 41%. This became a point of emphasis for the Pride, who held the Camels to just 5-24 from the 3-point line. Campbell was 3-19 for the first 39 minutes of the game.
Gooden has been a consistent and reliable piece in the CAA Tournament for the last three seasons, averaging 13.5 points per game in tournament games. This season, she’s averaging 13.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and a steal per game, shooting 41% from the field. She totaled 14 points and two steals against the Camels.
“I kind of know it’s my last go around, so [Santos] always tells me to just play free, have confidence,” Gooden said. “We have no pressure on us; you guys saw the results. None of us, no one on our team won any [CAA Women’s Basketball Major Awards], so we’re all playing free, and we’re all playing with a chip on our shoulders.”
While the box score won’t show it, Hodge has been one of the most important pieces to this Pride run. In her limited minutes – 7.5 per game in this tournament – she’s supplied a much-needed presence inside, grabbing two offensive rebounds against Campbell. She’s proven that she doesn’t need to stuff the stat sheet to make an impact.
“[Hodge is] able to alter shots at the rim, defensively,” Santos said. “She’s worked hard on her ball screen defense, and so as they came off of all of those ball screens, she was there she was ready. I think Hodge came in and she [brought the energy].”
“We understand the job’s not done yet,” Gooden said. “It’s really good that we made history today, but the goal is to win a championship, and we’ve been saying that all year.”
Hofstra suited up once again on Saturday, March 14, to face the No. 3 seed Drexel University after they defeated Elon 68-53. The Dragons are winners of seven of their last eight. They swept the Pride in the season series by an average score differential of 21.5. Tip-off is set for 4:30 p.m.
