By Kyle Kandetzki -- SPORTS EDITOR
You cannot count out this Pride team and despite a loss, they created yet another memorable comeback against a strong conference opponent.
The Hofstra Pride women’s basketball team fell to the Elon Phoenix in their penultimate game of the season, 64-58. The final home game of the season seemed all but over after the Pride was as far back as 26 points, but Hofstra battled back to come within two, never able to take the late lead.
“The second half showed a lot of character from us,” said head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey. “But that first half was totally not us.”
The Phoenix, in their first conference meeting at the Mack Sports Complex, assumed control immediately, jumping out to a 16-2 lead within seven minutes of play. The Pride was plagued by six turnovers over the seven minutes, while an array of Elon players pitched in to create the early deficit.
Elon picked their shots carefully (hitting 8 of their first 11), while Hofstra was able to drive inside effectively, but couldn’t finish their motions, making just three shots on 14 tries.
Elon guard Shay Burnett would then establish herself as the premier player of the game, scoring 10 points in a row. Included in this run was a killer seven-point possession for the Phoenix, due to a made shot on a flagrant foul from Kelly Loftus, followed by a three-pointer from Zora Stephenson, pushing the score to 29-11.
The weak Pride offense was burned by long scoring droughts, which equated to a 26 percent field goal mark at halftime. Burnett and Stephenson continued to light it up in the first half, combining to shoot 10-for-12, as Elon pulled into the break ahead 46-22.
“It’s hard to put a finger on why we came out like that,” said Kilburn-Steveskey. “But I’m not screaming at these guys for a lack of effort, they’re not that kind of team.”
For the first nine minutes of the second half, it appeared a comeback was out of the question, with Elon holding a 52-29 lead with just 11 minutes left. But Darius Faulk sparked the sputtering Pride offense with two buckets in less than 40 seconds, followed by two Asia Jackson free throws to bring the lead down to 16.
The Pride offense clicked at the right time, as the Phoenix only scored twice over an eight minute period, allowing them to slowly inch closer to possibly taking their first lead of the afternoon. Jackson scored six of the next seven points, before Loftus turned a poor personal day in a different direction.
Loftus only shot 2-for-10 coming into the 12th minute of the period, but a fastbreak score changed everything, as she would follow that with a three-point play, and a three-pointer to pull Hofstra within three with less than six minutes still to go.
The Phoenix finally broke their cold spell, as Burnett put the lead back to five. Neither team scored over the next two and a half minutes, as Elon took as much time off the clock as possible to prevent the epic collapse.
It seemed as though the comeback would finally be completed as Ashunae Durant (who also struggled throughout the first half), scored to make the game 56-54, the closest it had been since the opening seconds.
Hofstra missed their next three field goals, alongside Darius Faulk who missed two key free throws. Elon then ran the clock down to 1:20 and missed their shot, but they quickly grabbed an offensive rebound, forcing Hofstra to foul, and putting Elon at a two-possession advantage, 60-54 with :55 left in the game.
The Phoenix calmly made most of their charity stripe shots, while the Pride only landed one more basket in the closing moments, bring the final score to 64-58.
“It’s always tough after you dig that big of a hole,” said Kilburn-Steveskey. “We had some possessions we could’ve done a little better, but I was proud of their fight.”
Faulk finished the day as the top performer, scoring 13 points, and two assists short of a double-double with eight. Loftus tied the team-high with 13 points of her own, while Durant had 11 points and eight boards.
A scary moment in the game came when forward Elo Edeferioka went down hard in the second half, needing an escort off the court, appearing to be in severe pain. There is no word on the state of her injury.
The loss puts the Pride at 11-6, in third place in the CAA, just one game above Elon.
Hofstra closes out their regular season late Wednesday night against the UNC-W Seahawks, who are 9-8 in CAA play. Tipoff from Wilmington, North Carolina is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.