By Steven Wolff -- STAFF WRITER The Hofstra women’s basketball team fell to 10-3 on the season, as they dropped a back-and-forth contest to the Elon Phoenix at Alumni Gym 61-60.
Pride sophomore forward Ashunae Durant gave Hofstra a one point lead with 17 seconds left with a put-back basket after two offensive rebounds. However Elon’s Shay Burnett drew a foul on a baseline drive where she sunk both free throws, and also sunk Hofstra’s chance to emerge with a much needed conference victory.
In the loss, junior guard Krystal Luciano led the Pride with 17 points and hit two fourth quarter three-pointers to help Hofstra erase a three point deficit. Hofstra was leading 58-56 but Burnett, who torched the Pride all game, hit a three pointer with 52 seconds left that put Elon up by a point.
Ashunae Durant notched her sixth double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 boards. Kelly Loftus, the Pride’s top scorer this season, scored all of her 12 points in the second half. Senior guard Asia Jackson provided a spark off the bench with 8 points, while junior center Sandra Dongmo came off the bench and grabbed nine rebounds.
The Pride had a solid defensive effort as they only allowed Elon to shoot 37 percent from the field, and just 15 percent from beyond the arc. However, Hofstra had a nine point lead late in the third quarter, but lost it in the fourth.
“We had a horrible momentum shift in the third quarter, that’s got to fix, we can’t do that, we were up by seven and it was controllable so we have to do better as a unit,” said Hofstra head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey after the loss.
Hofstra is still 10-3 overall and are third in the CAA with a 1-1 conference record. Elon improved to 9-4 on the season and 2-0 in the Colonial. The Pride will look to rebound from their loss to Elon on Sunday as they take on the College of Charleston in North Carolina at 2 p.m.