The Pride womens basketball team capitalized on Senior Day and brought home a victory in the final home game of the season, as Hofstra upset the Drexel University Dragons 58-53 in a game dominated by Ashunae Durants 25 points and nine rebounds.
Durants 25 points came from an outstandingly efficient 83 percent shooting from the field, connecting on 10 of her 12 shots to offset the 31 percent shooting by the rest of the team.
The productivity by Durant was huge in creating opportunities for her teammates to contribute by drawing double and triple teams on a consistent basis throughout the game.
They really triple team her, as you saw late in the game as they tried to do, so when that started to happen she facilitated and got a nice layup to Aleana [Leon], said Hofstra womens basketball head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey.
Kilburn-Steveskey was referring to a flashy wrap-around pass by Durant, avoiding the defender and landing in Leons hands for the easy uncontested layup. The bucket gave the Pride its biggest lead of the afternoon as Hofstra went up by six, 47-41 in the fourth quarter.
Another player that benefited from the lockdown on Durant was point guard Krystal Luciano. After a rough scoring start which consisted of going 1-for-10 from the field, Luciano found her groove at the perfect moment, knocking down three consecutive three-balls after the Dragons had closed the gap on the scoreboard to 42-41 with 8:37 left to play in the game. The rhythm caught by Luciano was huge, as Drexels corralling defense held Durant without a shot with their glaring emphasis on containing the hot scorer.
Seeing the first one fall, youre like okay, I can keep shooting, Ill probably make the second one. And I just kept shooting and I think I made two more so it was good. It was good timing too, Luciano said.
With 12 total points, Luciano was three assists away from recording a double-double one game after she recorded the first triple-double in the history of Hofstra womens basketball.
On the other side of the court, Sarah Curran did her best to keep up with Durants potent production. As the go-to player for the Dragons, she came up big throughout the game going 8-for-15 from the floor, scoring a team high 18 points. Her effectiveness putting the ball in the hole kept the Dragons within reach of the Pride as Hofstra continued to score. Despite the strong effort by Curran, Durants late free throws sealed it with 1:44 left to play.
The tight affair throughout the first three quarters produced 10 lead changes to go along with seven ties. Although an interesting contest throughout, the late production of Luciano and the solid night by Leon gave the Pride the push it needed to create cushion in the close game.
As the final buzzer sounded, the Pride finished with the win on a special day for seniors Luciano, Sydni Epps and Sandra Dongmo, as the team was able to bring home a signature victory on its last home game of the season.
Following this win, Hofstra is gearing up to face Northeastern University as the Pride looks to close out the season with one more victory. The matchup will take place at Northeastern University on March 1 at 7 p.m.
