By Joe Pantorno, Assistant Sports Editor
Just three days after its loss to Virginia, the Hofstra University women's basketball won 78-55 over St. Peter's College, who visited the Mack Sports Complex on Monday night.
The first few minutes dictated that the game would be won and lost on the boards and with second chance points as both teams came out shooting poorly.
Looking for an early advantage, the Pride switched its defense to a full court press. St. Peter's had some difficulty at first finding a way through the Hofstra defense, but was able to keep the game close in the first eight minutes as the Pride held a 13-9 advantage.
As the shooting percentage decreased, play under the basket the basket increased as the teams shied away from mid to long range open looks.
The Pride's advantage grew to seven with eight minutes left in the first half, but the sloppy played continued from both sides.
The defense stayed solid with sophomore forward Shante Evans providing an intimidating force under the basket.
Offensively, Hofstra began exploiting the low post, as junior guard Candice Bellocchio began commanding the game with smart passes to her forwards down low.
"Their [St. Peter's] weak side was kind of lacking," said Bellochio. "Once the guards got in there and draw the five big man, our post did a great job of sealing and giving great targets for the guards."
Evans and freshman forward Anma Onyeuku began to benefit from Bellocchio's passing prowess as Evans put up 10 points in the first half and Onyeuku had eight of her own. Bellocchio was able to collect three assists in the first half and had six overall for the game.
With 22 combined turnovers, a sloppy first half came to an end with the Pride leading 42-31. Hofstra shot 50 percent from the field despite going 0-7 from three-point range.
The Pride finally hit its first three-point field goal when junior guard Nicole Capurso sank her shot from the right corner one minute and a half into the second half.
The turnover bug stayed with the Pride through the break, as the sloppy played continued.
The defense kept playing solidly as Hofstra was able to increase its lead to 15 points despite the turnover problem.
St. Peter's offense had trouble finding a way score with Hofstra starting the second half on an 11-4 run.
Hofstra was able to extend its lead to 20 points, at 60-40, with a little over 11 minutes gone, still finding its bread and butter under the basket.
The success down low did reveal some open looks from long range for Hofstra with minimal results but the support under the basket did not waver even with the big lead as the Pride kept gaining rebound after rebound. Hofstra was able to outrebound the Peahens 55-29 in the game.
The final buzzer brought the inevitable with Hofstra getting its first win of the season.
"There was definitely a little bit of a better outcome in some of the stat sections according to rebounding so I feel a little bit mentally better," said Kilburn - Steveskey. "I'm proud of some of the effort tonight. Pursuing the ball and I think it was good to kind of get ourselves a nice ‘W' here and wipe away Friday."
The Pride's record improves to 1-1 while St. Peter's falls to 0-2.
Evans led the Pride with 17 points and added seven rebounds. In total, 11 different players scored for the Pride.
"If we are able to get four, five people into double figures, we are going to be winning a lot of ball games," said Kilburn - Steveskey.
Hofstra is next in action on Thursday, Nov. 18 when it visits Stony Brook University.
Hofstra guard Aamira Terry is fouled on her way to the basket against St. Peters. (Sean M. Gates/The Chronicle)