By Frank Aimetti - Staff Writer “We grew up today. I was very proud of our effort and attitude when things got tough.”
Those were the first words from Coach Kilburn-Steveskey’s mouth when asked to speak on Hofstra’s thrilling overtime victory against Northeastern. What many thought would be a fairly easy win for the Pride turned into a firefight late that Hofstra barely emerged from.
Krystal Luciano’s first career double-double and school record-tying 14 assists led the way for Hofstra (9-4, 2-0 CAA) against an underdog Northeastern (3-9, 0-2 CAA) that played like anything but.
Hofstra’s offense struggled from the get-go, taking almost 9 minutes to record their first 2-point field goal of the game. Unforced turnovers plagued the Pride and bogged down the pace of the game, allowing for Northeastern to hang around despite generally being outplayed.
One of the few bright spots for the Pride in the first half was reserve Anjie White, who came off the bench and immediately made her impact felt on both the boards and the low block, showcasing her post-up skills. White finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 blocks off the bench; an impressive line for a player that might start making waves soon for the Pride.
The Pride never seemed to get into any sort of groove in the first half, leading Northeastern by only 2 at the break. The first warning sign was Hofstra’s defense allowing 33 points in a half to a team that scored only 35 points total in their previous game against Drexel.
While Hofstra’s offense picked up in the second half on the back of Krystal Luciano’s impressive vision and scoring, the defense never really seemed to find any rhythm, fouling excessively inside and generally not playing to the standard most are used to seeing from them.
Luciano was the one constant for Hofstra all night long, playing a team-high 42 minutes and seeming to never tire despite an immense workload. Luciano repeatedly pushed the pace and helped energize an at-first sluggish offense. Her hot shooting from three-point range helped open up the floor for her teammates whom she repeatedly targeted with accurate, pinpoint passes that led to easy buckets. A particularly impressive sequence came in the second half where Luciano was able to find Anjie White inside for a basket after seemingly being swallowed up by Northeastern’s interior defense.
Unfortunately for the Pride, every big momentum play by Hofstra was matched by the Huskies, who refused to go away despite repeated Hofstra runs. Northeastern’s Samantha DeFreese was particularly impressive, using a vast array of post-up moves to befuddle the Hofstra defense. She nearly won the game in regulation for her Huskies, seemingly scoring whenever her team needed a big basket.
With Ashunae Durant going 1-of-2 from the line late to tie the game up, DeFreese had the opportunity to win the game but saw her turnaround jumper rattle off the rim as time expired.
Hofstra seized control of the overtime period fairly quickly, but as was the case during regulation, couldn’t quite pull away from the Huskies. Two Darius Faulk free throws with 35 seconds to go gave Hofstra a 4-point lead and seemed to confirm that a win was imminent.
Northeastern’s A’lece Mark had other ideas. She converted an and-one after drilling a tough jumper to cut the lead to one, and after two more Hofstra free throws, came up the floor and nailed a stepback-three-point jumper to tie the game with 13 seconds left. However, Hofstra would pull away due to several late-game errors committed by Northeastern. An unnecessary foul, a lost rebound out of bounds, and a mishandling of the ball sunk Northeastern’s chances and gave Hofstra their 9th win of the season.
The Pride and their 2-0 conference record will go back on the road for their next matchup against the Drexel University Dragons, who are 8-5 overall, and 2-0 in the CAA. The game will be played on January 9th at 7 p.m. in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.