Preview: Women's basketball to open CAA play

The Hofstra University women’s basketball team will be taking on Hampton University in the opening round of the 2024 Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) Women’s Basketball Championship on Wednesday, March 13. The Pride enters as the No. 13 seed and Hampton comes in with the No. 12 seed.

Hofstra ended the season with a 9-20 overall record while Hampton finished with a 3-25 final ledger. Both teams finished CAA play with identical 3-15 records, but the Lady Pirates earned the tiebreaker advantage by winning both regular season contests against the Pride.

The Pride rolls into the tournament on the back of a 57-46 loss to North Carolina A&T University in their last game of the regular season. Emma Von Essen, Alarice Gooden and Sorelle Ineza tied for the lead in points with 9 apiece. Ally Knights also contributed nine rebounds and five assists in the effort.

Hampton’s final regular season game saw the Lady Pirates suffer a 70-61 loss at the hands of Campbell University. Cheyenne Talbot led her side with a 19-point, 10-rebound double-double. Casey Miller and Amyah Reaves had 13 points and 12 points, respectively. 

In their most recent clash with Hampton, Hofstra was held to their second-lowest scoring of just 42 points back on Friday, March 1. Ineza led all scorers in the game with 13 points in a game as both teams struggled offensively.

The keys to victory for Hofstra should lay in 3-pointers and asserting their presence on the glass.

The Pride made 90 more 3-pointers than Hampton, knocking down twice as many trey balls per game than the Lady Pirates.

While both teams finished in the bottom four for team field goal percentage, the Pride finished in the middle of the pack from behind the arc, shooting 31% from three; good enough for sixth in the CAA. Hampton finished 13th in the conference from long distance, connecting on just 24% of 3-pointer attempts.

On the boards, the Pride finished seventh in the CAA, bringing down 38 rebounds per game. The Pride also averaged 14.1 offensive rebounds per game, second-best in the conference. In contrast, Hampton boasted the worst rebounding margin in the CAA, allowing opponents to out-rebound them by 10.1 boards a game.

The tournament will be held at the Entertainment & Sports Arena in Washington, D.C. with tip-off on Wednesday, March 13, at 2 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Evan Bernstein