Women's basketball loses second consecutive at Music City Challenge

While the Hofstra women's basketball team was able to hold the Marist College Red Foxes close in the early going, the Red Foxes eventually caught fire, handing Hofstra a 71-57 loss in the second game of the Music City Challenge on Saturday, Nov. 24, in Nashville, Tennessee. Hofstra was led by Ana Hernandez Gil, who had 16 points on the day, while the Red Foxes had the game’s highest scorer in Rebekah Hand who had 20. 

Hofstra (2-4) played a solid first quarter. They trailed by only three entering the second against the undefeated Marist (5-0) who has gotten off to their best start in program history. The two teams even traded leads for the first five minutes of the second quarter. However, after that, Marist distanced themselves, going on a 13-4 run to end the quarter, and never looking back afterward. Their largest lead against the Pride was 20 during the fourth quarter. 

“Obviously we were competing. We competed hard in some spots,” said Hofstra head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey. “[But] the amount of points we’ve given up in the past two days is just hard to bear.”

One of the biggest issues for the Pride was their struggles with defending after letting up an offensive rebound. Hofstra didn’t lose the rebounding battle by much (34-26), but they did struggle with second chance points. 

Hofstra had six second chance points on 10 offensive rebounds, whereas Marist had 16 second chance points on 12 offensive rebounds. Despite Hofstra playing good defense and forcing a miss, they weren’t able to repeat their efforts after giving Marist the second chance opportunity. By allowing the Red Foxes to score points even after they missed their shots, the Pride allowed Marist to control the game and go on runs that put Hofstra out of it.

Another factor that hurt the Pride was Marist’s impressive shooting performance in the second half. The Red Foxes shot 61.5 percent from the field and 42.8 percent from three in the second half. This especially hurt Hofstra, who shot only 22.2 precent from beyond the arc. Marist was able to take advantage of this, outscoring Hofstra 24-13 in the third quarter and taking a comfortable 19-point lead entering the fourth quarter.

“[I] give credit to Marist,” Kilburn-Steveskey said. “Not only do they do a good job in their system, but those kids were all over the floor, just wiping it up like dust mops.”

Along with her 16 points, Hernandez Gil gathered a pair of rebounds and a steal. This was her highest scoring performance of the season, and her best scoring performance since an 18-point outing her freshman year.

Hofstra also had two other players reach double digit points on the day, receiving 11 points from guard Boogie Brozoski, who now has a five-game streak of double digit points, as well as an efficient 10 points out of forward Marianne Kalin, who was able to score her points in 22 minutes on 3-5 shooting.

This was the Pride’s second loss of the Music City Challenge in Nashville, Tennessee. They lost their first game of the challenge against the Wright State University Raiders.

Despite the losses, the scheduling in the tournament allowed Hofstra get a feel for opponents that may provide a similar look to the teams they may see in Colonial Athletic Association play.

“Wright State is like a [James Madison University] or Towson, and Marist is your Drexel and a little bit of your William & Mary,” Kilburn-Steveskey said.

The Pride will have one more opportunity to get a win down in Nashville as they play against the Stetson University Hatters on Sunday, Nov. 25, at 1 p.m. 

Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics