By Chris Detwiler -- STAFF WRITER The Hofstra Pride women’s basketball team lost to local rival Stony Brook University in the “Battle of Long Island” by a score of 73-49 on Tuesday at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex.
The last time Hofstra women’s basketball lost the cross-island rivalry game was in the 2007-08 season.
Senior Ashunae Durant led the Pride with 13 points, three assists and six blocks.
Stony Brook outscored Hofstra 44-19 in the first half alone, a deficit that the Pride could not overcome in the second half.
The Seawolves ended the first quarter on a 12-1 run, extending their lead to 23-11. Then in the second quarter, Stony Brook went on another demoralizing run; this one was a 16-0 run that practically sealed the game for the Seawolves.
“[The first quarter run] was not good, and then it carried over into the second quarter,” said Hofstra head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey. “We didn’t sustain any runs on our end.”
There was a lack of defense on Hofstra’s end, something that Coach Kilburn-Steveskey attributes partially to the lack of productivity on the offensive side of the court.
“You don’t shoot well… so that is affecting you on the other end of the floor,” Coach Kilburn-Steveskey said. “So, someone has to be woman enough to really lace up the shoes a little bit harder and get the stops, and we didn’t.”
Even in a tough loss like Tuesday night’s, Kilburn-Steveskey had some positive takeaways.
“[I liked] how my seniors handled themselves with poise and then [Sandra Karsten] and [Mie Hoff] trying to hop in and really play hard,” Kilburn-Steveskey said.
Karsten was tied for second on the team with 10 points in the game coming off the bench and Hoff came down with four rebounds for the Pride.
“As a coach, you have to take these; they’re not fun,” Kilburn-Steveskey said. “[The team] needs to feel that this is not fun because this is what happens when you’re not ready… but we’ll be ready.”
The team will be back in action on Nov. 18 against the University of Hartford in Connecticut at 2 p.m.