By Alex Mitchell – STAFF WRITER
Each day draws closer to the start of 2015-16 season for the Hofstra women’s basketball team. It is difficult to find someone more excited for the new year than junior point guard Kelly Loftus, who is eagerly waiting to start a season she has high anticipations for.
“If we continue to work on the little things, and we come together, I think if we give ourselves a chance to play in the championship and win, I see us giving ourselves a chance to make it further and go to the NCAA tournament and make history for the school,” Loftus added.
To her, the momentum from last season’s run to the CAA conference finals is giving her team an advantage.
“I thought last season was good for us. I think the experience that we gained from going to the championship is only going to make our team this year even better, and having four starters back is going to add to our success,” Loftus said.
With that in mind, she also sees a radiant future for the program in upcoming years, thanks to the work of head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey.
“It’s only going to get better. With the recruits coach K has brought in, it’s gotten better every single year,” Loftus said. “With my junior class I think we’ve helped that a lot … we’ve got some good people that committed. We’re going to try to further the women’s basketball [program], we’ve already made history last year and just try to build on that this year.”
As any determined athlete would, she is looking to challenge herself personally this season as well.
“I would say just being better than last season, so getting the CAA championship and working on the things we didn’t do as well last season and coming together and building chemistry on the floor,” said Loftus.
It’s fairly obvious she wants that ring. It would climax a lifetime of effort and determination in basketball for her.
Loftus started playing at the age of six, and began competitively at 11. She credits her father for not only getting her engaged in basketball, but also showing her the ropes.
“My dad first put a ball in my hand … he’s been my coach my whole life,” said Loftus about her father, who is a diehard sports fan that is almost always pulling for the little guy. “He wants to see the underdog win, and he likes upsets a lot.”
The affection of watching the underdog rise is something the two of them have in common and is why Loftus wears the number zero, which began after meeting three-time NBA all-star Gilbert Arenas, who also wore that number.
“I was always intrigued by the way he picked zero. He picked zero because he felt like nobody ever believed in him, had something to prove and he had zero chances. I felt like that applied to me, so I always had something to prove so I picked zero because nobody thinks anything of the number zero,” said Loftus.
With what she did last season, she is anything but zero. In the 2014-15 season, Loftus recorded over 400 points, 300 more than her rookie year, and averaged 12.5 points per game.
If all goes according to plan, Loftus intends to keep playing basketball following college only with a change of scenery. Her ideal career would be playing overseas.
“I’ve always dreamt of playing in Italy. I can’t think of anywhere else I would want to go. But I just want to go somewhere that’s going to give me the best opportunity,” she said.
If basketball is not in the cards for her future, the red carpet is. If Loftus does not continue her basketball career past college, she plans to start one in broadcasting.
“I would always like to go into that, even if it’s not sports. If it’s just doing different events or working on the red carpet,” she said, adding that if she had to pick one celebrity to interview it would be Chris Brown.
Kelly Loftus – along with the rest of the women’s basketball team – is certainly determined to make the dream of winning the first-ever CAA title come true and their chances are the closest they have ever been.
That dream starts this Friday at the David S. Mack Sports Complex, when Loftus and the rest of the Pride open the 2015-16 season against Navy at 5 p.m.
