Hofstra drops fifth straight in close contest with Monmouth

The Hofstra Prides women’s basketball team saw their losing streak extend to five games after a loss to Monmouth University. Despite a competitive contest, the Pride fell 63-59 to the Hawks.  

“We did see growth in this game, they played hard they got after it,” says Hofstra head coach Danielle Santos.

Hofstra’s leading scorer on the season, Brandy Thomas finished the game with 22 points on 6-13 shooting. She finished as the leading scorer in the game with Lucy Thomas of the Hawks right behind her with 19 points of her own. She also went 6-13 from the field. The Hawks had three players finish in double figures with the Pride only having Thomas and Sorelle Ineza in double figures.

“We had a great start it’s one of the things that we wanted to do we wanted to come out swinging and we wanted to continue to fight through adversity,” said Santos.

In the first quarter, the Pride came out hot with a 7-2 run to start the game. Thomas scored eight of her points this quarter helping them take a 17-11 lead. The Hawks came back quickly to end the quarter with an 18-17 point lead. The Pride struggled to end the quarter strong, being held scoreless in the last three minutes. A huge difference in the first quarter occurred at the free throw line. Eight fouls on Hofstra led to seven free throws for Monmouth. The Pride only mustered up one made free throw.

“Our fouls also hurt us a bit so putting them at the free throw line, 20 turnovers, 20 free throws for them were the two factors of the game,” said Santos.

Thomas made a basket in the first thirty seconds of the second quarter to end the scoring drought. However, two quick early fouls for Thomas forces her to sit down for an extended period of time. The second period included multiple runs for both teams. The Pride’s scoring woes continued, scoring just four points in the last four minutes and only eight points in the whole quarter. This helped the Hawks achieve a one-point lead going into halftime.

The third quarter started like the second with Thomas scoring quickly giving the Pride back the lead. The Pride gained their largest lead of the game when they took advantage of a three-minute drought by the Hawks to build a 40-32 advantage. Monmouth fought back to drop the lead from eight to just two.

“We got to work on taking care of the ball, we’ve got to get better, we’ve got to value those possessions,” Santos said.

In the final quarter, Hofstra saw another lead vanish. A quick ten-point run by Monmouth gave them the lead back. After going 0-14 from three in the first three quarters the Hawks started to hit them when it mattered most. Two of which came in that starting run from Brianna Tinsley and Lucy Thomas. Hofstra let the game get away from them with their chances coming too late. Thomas hit a three and a Zyhemia Swint layup cut the lead to 61-59 with thirty-six seconds left in the game. Ariana Vanderhoop missed a layup and gave the Pride one last chance to tie or take the lead. Thomas turned the ball over before they could get a shot off.

Hofstra’s record falls to 8-13 overall and 2-8 in conference play. Hofstra will come back home to face Towson University on Thursday, Feb 9. at 7 p.m.

Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics