Women's basketball season ends in quarterfinal loss to NC A&T

The Hofstra University women's basketball 2024 season has come to an end.

The Pride suffered a disappointing 55-40 loss to the North Carolina A&T State University Aggies in a quarterfinals matchup in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) tournament in Washington, D.C., on Friday, March 15.

This was a heartbreaking loss for the team, coming off the heels of an impressive 57-53 upset win against the fifth-seeded College of William & Mary Tribe. The victory had sparked hope for an improbable championship run.

“We had a couple options coming down here to the tournament,” said Hofstra head coach Danielle Santos Atkinson. “We finished 13th, and it was really tough this year and battling. When you look at that win-loss column, we brought a crew down here that was willing to leave it all out there, to give it their last go and they did. I’m proud of them for that, they could’ve rolled over and quit, but they continued to fight from when that first horn went off to the last.”

Playing three games in three days is a grueling test of endurance that inevitably takes its toll. For the Pride, the relentless schedule caught up to them, and they ran out of steam. The offense struggled mightily, with Hofstra having its worst shooting performance of the tournament thus far. The Pride shot just 25.4% from the field, along with 25% from beyond the 3-point line.

The offensive struggles were felt across the entire roster, with only senior center Zyheima Swint managing to notch double-digit points for the team. The lack of scoring was particularly glaring, as the Pride leaned heavily on their leading scorer, sophomore guard Emma Von Essen, who had led Hofstra's offense throughout the season, averaging 11.8 points per game. Von Essen found herself in a rare slump, as she only managed to score five points on a disappointing 2-7 shooting performance.

Hofstra put up a solid defensive effort. The Pride were able to slow the Aggies down for most of the game, with the fourth quarter slipping through Hofstra's fingers. The Pride forced 15 turnovers in the contest, although Hofstra was only able to score nine points off the turnovers. The defense through the first three quarters was suffocating. North Carolina shot 36.3%, 15.3% and 37.5% through three quarters.

“We hung our hat on our defense; we said that’s what we had to do in this tournament,” Santos said. “We had to play as hard as we can, as physical as we can, as tough as we could, and it was going to take just that, some heart and some grit.”

“Defensively just putting pressure on them, being in the passing lanes, not letting the ball get in the post easily, and also rebounding, we put a lot of pressure and emphasis on rebounding this whole week,” said Hofstra senior guard Sorella Ineza.

Going into the fourth quarter, the Pride was down just three points. The Aggies figured out Hofstra's defense and ran away with the game, shooting an impressive 6-11 from the field, along with a killer 75% from the 3-point line.

Another big blow for the Pride came with foul trouble in the fourth quarter. Hofstra sent the Aggies to the line a staggering 18 times in the quarter, with a whopping 15 points coming exclusively from the charity stripe. Along with the defense getting away from the Pride, they had lost their offensive touch, going 6-29 combined between the third and fourth.

Hofstra finished the year 11-21 overall on the season.

Photo courtesy of Alexis Friedman/Hofstra Athletics