Hofstra drops New Year's Eve contest

The Hofstra University women’s basketball team dropped their last game of the year to the Manhattan College Jaspers, 53-45, on New Year’s Eve.

“[It was] not our best outing,” said Hofstra head coach Danielle Santos Atkinson. “If you hold a team to 53 points, that’s a game you should win.”

After a two-game absence due to unspecified reasons, center Zyheima Swint landed her third double-double of the season. She led the team with an impressive 12 points and 10 rebounds despite not having seen playing time since Hofstra’s loss to Iona University on Dec. 7.

Hofstra started hot with five points each from Sorelle Ineza and Emma Von Essen, but that momentum was put to a screeching halt when the visitors went on a 15-0 run in the last six minutes of the first quarter, leading the floor 19-10 after the opening 10 minutes.

“When they went on that run in the first quarter, it really hurt us,” Santos said. “In that run, we allowed way too many open buckets.”

The second quarter told a different story where the Pride shot 57% from the floor, going 8-14. That was an outlier with the Pride shooting 25%, 31.3% and 23.1% in the first, third and fourth quarters, respectively.

“Offensively, we got to be able to put the ball in the basket; I thought some of our shots were a bit rushed,” Santos said. “We had to bounce back.”

The score tightened to 34-28 going into the halftime break.

Both squads exchanged 11 points in the third period, but the Jaspers out-scored Hofstra 8-6 in the final quarter.

With the non-conference schedule left behind in 2023, the Pride looks forward to league play, starting with UNC-Wilmington on Friday, Jan. 5, at 7 p.m. on their home court.

“I feel great going into conference play; I think we’re prepared; we talked to [the team] about a shift in our mindset,” Santos said. “Everybody’s gonna know; everybody’s gonna scout everything that you’re doing; you play people twice. That second go-round, you got to understand player tendencies, so I think we’re ready.”

Photo courtesy of Evan Bernstein/Hofstra Athletics