By Kyle Kandetzki – Assistant Sports Editor
After one half of basketball, it appeared as if Hofstra and Towson’s first CAA battle of the year was going to be a struggle to even find the bottom of the hoop. But after the break, the Pride offensive was revitalized, and would completely overmatch the Tigers on their way to an easy win.
The Hofstra Pride women’s basketball team traveled to Maryland for their fourth game in eight days against the Towson Tigers. Hofstra used impressive defense throughout, and an energizing second half to handle their CAA rival, 58-42. Elo Edeferioka led the day with 17 points, but plenty of players like Asia Jackson contributed efficient efforts to stay undefeated in conference play at 4-0.
“4-0 in conference, that’s a nice feeling,” said head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey. “That’s the marking of a great team that’s moving forward so I’m really proud of this group.”
Kilburn-steveskey added how depth was a key factor in the game for the Pride. “I think our depth really helped us tonight, by far. Elo stepped up for us. A lot of our top scorers from the last game had to play serious defense [in this game]. Darius Faulk lock-down like crazy with eight assists, Kelly was phenomenal on the floor defensively and then Ashunae got the biggest draw, stopped their leading scorer. She only scored 11 points… Krystal and Asia come in and they give us some point production that we needed.”
Fans in the SECU Arena were not treated to much excitement before the break between the two squads. The first half featured streaks of several misses between both teams, and at the midway mark of the period, both teams only combined for eight points, as Towson led 5-3.
But Ashunae Durant hit a layup to start to show signs of life for Hofstra, and the Pride followed with ten consecutive points on free throws. Krystal Luciano capped off a slow half with a deep ball to make the score 20-12 at the break.
The numbers were ugly on both sides at halftime, as Hofstra shot 4-for-20, while Towson was even worse at 4-for-28. Luciano only needed five points to lead Hofstra in scoring at the break.
“We sat down and we said not it’s what we’re running. We can score anything we want, we just got buckle down and make something,” Kilburn-Steveskey added. “What we really talked about is getting our tempo picked up, score in transition, and even just pushing drives.”
But things rapidly shifted in Hofstra’s favor in the second half, and it all started with Elo Edeferioka remerging offensively. Edeferioka scored eight of the team’s first ten points over just a five-minute period to put the Pride ahead 31-18.
“Take some chances were the words I used at halftime. You guys take some chances in the transition game and I thought we did a really good job separating in the second half,” said Steveskey.
Players that didn’t make much of a contribution in the first half came through in many ways in the final period. Asia Jackson was held without a field goal in the first twenty minutes, but was a key player in Hofstra bring their lead up to 20 points, as she finished the game at a 3-for-6 mark, including two shots from behind the arc.
After an eight point run by Jackson alone, Hofstra found themselves up 47-27 with seven minutes remaining and didn’t look back from there. The Pride ran the clock down, and held the Tigers to just 42 points with a 58-42 final score.
Elo Edeferioka was a perfect 5-for-5 from the field, and added nine rebounds in a huge afternoon for the forward. Krystal Luciano and Asia Jackson joined her in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Darius Faulk was a key player in passing prowess, adding eight assists on the afternoon.
42 points is the lowest points scored by a Pride opponent all season, and Hofstra was aided by poor performances across the board for the Tigers. Towson finished shooting at 28%, including a 5-for-20 performance from LaTorri Hines-Allen, and three players taking five or more shots, and hitting just one of them.
Krista Kilburn-Steveskey commented how the team has some time to prepare for their fifth conference matchup of the season. “Definitely a recovery this week and go to work, watching what they do and it is about us [improving]. So better offensive execution, getting people in the right position to score and just keep working on us this week.”
Hofstra is now 4-0 in conference, and 11-4 overall, meaning that both Pride basketball squads sit atop the CAA, with a combined 8-0 record. Hofstra will finally get a short rest before traveling to the University of Delaware on Thursday. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
