After a thrilling overtime victory in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) quarterfinals against No. 4 Towson University, the Hofstra women’s basketball team’s season ended at the hands of No. 1 University of Delaware on Friday, March 12, at the Schar Center in Elon, NC.

The No. 5 Pride stood strong through the first quarter of the game trailing 19-15, but struggled heavily in the second and third quarters, as they fell to the top-seeded Blue Hens 60-39.

Junior guard JaKayla Brown was the only member of the Pride to reach double digits in scoring with 10 points while shooting 4-of-19, including 2-of-6 from beyond the arc.

Meanwhile for Delaware, three players reached double digits in point totals, as Jasmine Dickey, Lizzie Oleary and Ty Battle finished with 13, 12 and 10, respectively.

The Pride came out strong in the first quarter and led the Blue Hens for the first six minutes of the game. After briefly trailing 14-10 with 2:41 remaining, Jahsyni Knight drained a three to bring Hofstra back within one. One possession later, the Pride went back in front 15-14 on Jaylen Hines’ layup.

However, that would be Hofstra’s final lead of the season as Delaware went on a 5-0 run to finish the first quarter and never looked back.

Although the second quarter was low-scoring for both teams, the Blue Hens limited the Pride to only six points compared to their 13 and took a 32-21 lead into halftime.

While Hofstra’s defense battled hard against the top team in the CAA, their shooters went cold again coming out of the break. This time, the Pride only registered five points in the third quarter as their deficit grew to 20.

By the start of the fourth quarter, it was too late for Hofstra to get back on track and pull off a second consecutive upset.

They continued to defend very well, limiting Delaware to only 15 points, but the offense could not take advantage. The Pride were outscored 15-13 in the final stanza as they saw their season come to a close.

A year after finishing with an abysmal 3-27 record, including an 0-18 CAA record, Hofstra head coach Danielle Santos Atkinson turned her team into a solid contender for the 2020-21 season, her second at the helm.

Hofstra finished the year with a much improved 8-12 overall record and 5-7 CAA record amid several game cancellations and postponements due to COVID-19. Although they were hit hard by the pandemic throughout the winter, the Pride fought hard all season as Santos Atkinson earned her first CAA tournament win since joining the program.

Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics