By Mike Rudin – Sports Editor
Originally published 1/19/15
Hofstra bounced back from their loss to University of Delaware to defeat the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks 71-57. The Pride improved to 5-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association conference and 12-5 overall on the season, holding the second place slot in the CAA.
“Just a nice bounce-back win for us and get us back on the right track,” said head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey during post game.
The Hofstra Pride continued their winning streak against the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks, winning five in a row against them since the 2012-13 season.
40 minutes in and out, the Pride did not give up their lead once to the Seahawks. Hofstra relentlessly kept UNC-Wilmington from even tying at any point in the game as well.
“The tone from the beginning, taking the ball to the cup several times, and it just kind of spread and everybody saw that advantage. So whether it was getting it inside which they did a great job,” said Kilburn-Steveskey. “It was nice seeing everybody have a chance to the paint.”
Four Pride players—Elo Edeferioka, Kelly Loftus, Ashunae Durant, and Darius Faulk—scored in double figures to take charge in the game.
Kelly Loftus noticed and compliments freshman phenom Ashunae Durant on her play this season.
“She gives us what we need in every position on this team. She gives us scoring, she gives us rebounds, she’s gives us a big body on the inside and she’s been a great contributor to this year.”
“She’s versatile, so there’s games she gives us that defensive stop when we need it, she gives us an element that we haven’t had that she can guard the fastest guard and guard pretty strong in big posts too,” said Kilburn-Steveskey on Durant’s performance this season. “It’s nice that she plays above her years and maturity.”
Loftus led the Pride with 17 points on the offensive side and was second in command with seven defensive rebounds in the game. Luciano led Hofstra in rebounds with eight on the day and she made six assists.
Darius Faulk performed well overall in the game and on the stat sheet. Despite getting into some foul trouble in the second half, Faulk scored 11 points, six rebounds overall and led the Pride with seven assists.
Anjie White had a spectacular day on the defensive side with seven blocks in her 11 minutes on the court. Seven times more than UNCW as a unit put up and White put up more twice as many compared to the three by Edeferioka.
Elo Edeferioka scored the second most points for the Pride with 16 on the day and made great use of getting Hofstra second chances with six offensive rebounds in the game – seven in total.
Hofstra got the ball rolling in the opening minutes with a 9-0 lead within the first three minutes of the game. Edeferioka sparked the Pride offense, contributing to 7 of those points.
“I always say post ripples are first like I usually get the ball and I just want to make a move which makes it more difficult for me to score. But when I do the post-repost I take my time, said Edeferioka. “At the Delaware game, I struggled a bit offensively so today I worked on shot fades… most of my moves I did were the counter move. So I just calmed down and just did my thing.”
The Seahawks struggled with passing and surrendered five turnovers early on that helped Hofstra take an early lead. The Pride kept a fast-tempo offense and scored down low to rattle the UNCW team from the very start.
UNCW managed to regroup after the first three minutes and started to compete at a higher level.
Scoring trends went back-and-forth with UNCW going on a 6-2 run to get within five points by the 15:43 mark. Then the Pride retaliated with a 6-0 rally to take their first double-digit lead of the game.
After that point, Hofstra and UNC-Wilmington went head-to-head scoring until the 11th minute in the game.
The Seahawks went on a 6-0 rally of their own to get within one point shy of Hofstra’s lead. Loftus made her first three of the game to keep UNCW at bay but they would come within one point again shortly after.
48 seconds later, Durant created some separation with a layup to bump up Hofstra’s lead to three points. Luciano made it a two-score lead with back-to-back shots from the charity stripe.
In the last four minutes-and-20 seconds, Hofstra scored six points to the Seahawks’ three to extend the Pride’s lead to nine points by halftime.
Hofstra controlled the Seahawks down low with 28 points in the paint within the first half while UNCW scored 10. The Pride took advantage of fast breaks, outscoring UNC-Wilmington 6-2 in the first 20 minutes of regulation.
Kilburn-Steveskey mentioned how cohesive Edeferioka and Loftus performed in the first. “Elo was 3-for-3 at half, Kelly had a strong first half. They were playing off each other really well.”
All of Anjie White’s seven blocks came in the first half to pair with five rebounds – four defensive rebounds and one offensive rebound.
The second half started with Kelly Loftus sinking a three for the opening points to propel Hofstra’s lead up in the double figures.
UNCW attempted to rally back with 17 minutes left in the game, going on a 10-0 run to stifle Hofstra’s 14-point lead to four.
Hofstra fought the losing streak with a 4-0 run within a span of 50 seconds after UNCW started to threaten the Pride’s lead.
The Seahawks again pulled another rally to cut the Pride’s lead down to three by the middle of the second half.
The Pride turned the tides once more with another 6-0 run to keep their lead out-of-reach from the Seahawks.
The rally extended the Pride’s lead to nine points, quickly after brought down to a six-point lead from a three-pointer made by Shatia Cole.
With 6:53 remaining in the game, Hofstra once and for all stole the show with a 9-0 run to increase their lead to 15 points in a minute-48 second span.
The Pride kept UNCW off the board to secure their win, draining the final minutes of the game.
Hofstra kept wearing out the Seahawks, outscoring UNCW 8-0 with fast breaks and 14-10 in the paint.
UNC-Wilmington’s Kelva Atkins and Shatia Cole scored 18 points each for UNCW, each compiled five turnovers in the game and four personal fouls. The rest of the team didn’t reach double figures in any category.
Execution was on the Pride’s side with shooting field goals 28-59 (47.5 percent) while the Seahawks shot 30.6 percent 22-72 (30.6 percent).
The Hofstra Pride will have four days to rest and prepare for their next matchup against the Drexel Dragons. The game will start this Thursday at 12 p.m. as Hofstra looks to go 6-1 in conference play.
