Hofstra women's basketball vs. George Mason in-game blog

No matter what the sport a Hofstra-George Mason game is always intense and on Thursday afternoon the Pride women’s basketball team faces the rival Patriots in a key Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) tilt.

Hofstra (15-11, 7-8 in the CAA) is coming off a heartbreaking 79-77 loss to Old Dominion Sunday. The Pride come into Thursday’s matinee one game ahead of the Patriots (12-14, 6-9 in the CAA) for sixth place in the conference standings. In the team’s first meeting this season in Fairfax, Va., George Mason came away with a 76-70 win on Super Bowl Sunday.

Check in with "Inside the Pride" for live updates of the Hofstra- George Mason game 15 minutes before tip-off Thursday at 1:45 p.m. Comments and questions are also welcome and encouraged during the live in-game blog.

Hofstra women's basketball vs. Old Dominion in-game blog

The Hofstra women’s basketball team kicks off a three-game homestand Sunday afternoon against longtime Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) power Old Dominion.

Old Dominion enters Sunday’s game at 17-8 and 11-3 in the CAA. Hofstra is 15-10 overall and 7-7 in the conference.

There should be a large crowd on hand at the Mack Sports Complex Sunday thanks to the Hofstra-Old Dominion game serving as the Pride’s annual “Pink Zone” contest as well as Girl Scout Day. Everyone in attendance is asked to wear pink to help raise awareness for breast cancer.

Check in with "Inside the Pride" for live updates of the Hofstra-Old Dominion game 15 minutes before tip-off Sunday at 12:45 p.m. Comments and questions are also welcome and encouraged during the live in-game blog.

Hofstra women's basketball vs. Delaware in-game blog

The Hofstra women’s basketball team will try to get back on the winning track against Delaware on Sunday afternoon at the Mack Spots Complex.

The Pride (11-8, 3-5 in Colonial Athletic Association), enter Sunday’s matinee with the Blue Hens on a two-game losing streak including a 65-42 defeat at UNC Wilmington Thursday. Delaware (11-8, 4-4 in CAA) is coming off a 52-48 home loss to George Mason on Thursday evening. The Blue Hens feature All-American Elena Delle Donne, who last played on Dec.19 against Penn State, but is expected to return to action on Sunday versus the Pride.

Check in with "Inside the Pride" for live updates of the Hofstra-Delaware game starting 15 minutes before tip-off Sunday at 1:45 p.m. Comments and questions are also welcome and encouraged during the live in-game blog.

Hofstra women's basketball vs. UNC-Wilmington in-game blog

The Hofstra women's basketball team will try and move above .500 in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) when it takes on UNC-Wilmington on Sunday at Noon.

Hofstra (10-5, 2-2 in CAA) is coming off a 77-63 win over Northeastern on Thursday afternoon. The Pride's offense has been in high gear scoring 65 points or more all but once this season so far.

UNC-Wilmington (11-4, 3-1 in CAA) arrives on Long Island coming off a 67-51 triumph at George Mason Thursday. The Seahawks are guided by first-year coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, a former WNBA MVP who will be inducted into the James Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. on Aug. 13.

Check in with "Inside the Pride" for live updates of this key CAA tilt for Hofstra starting 15 minutes before tip-off Sunday at 11:45 a.m. Comments and questions are also welcome and encouraged during the live in-game blog.

Balanced scoring paces Hofstra women's basketball

Through the Hofstra women’s basketball team’s first 14 games the Pride have had had many leading the pack on the offensive end of the floor.

When Amma Onyeuku led Hofstra in scoring with 14 points in a 84-70 loss at Georgia State Sunday she became the fifth Pride player to be at the top of the box score this season.

The top scorer mantle has been held down the majority of the Hofstra's first 14 games by Shante Evans (8) but other Pride scorers have also emerged throughout the season. Junior guard Nicole Capurso led Hofstra in scoring three times, including twice in the last three games, while backcourt teammate Kate Loper’s solid perimeter play has enabled the Idaho native to lead the Pride in points twice thus far. Sophomore guard Candice Bond has also added some offense to her already staunch defensive play and tied with Capurso as Hofstra’s leading scorer with 13 points in an 89-73 win over Fairfield on Dec. 5.

“We have a lot of offensive power,” said Hofstra women’s basketball head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey during a Colonial Athletic Association teleconference on Tuesday. “I love the balanced scoring.”

While Kilburn-Steveskey said it is a positive how many of her players have emerged as leading scorers this season, she also wants there to be a main go-to force or two to get the ball two in key situations down the stretch.

After an 8-1 start Hofstra has lost four of its last five and will try and get back on the winning track Thursday afternoon at home against Northeastern starting at Noon.

Hofstra women's basketball looks to rebound after three heartbreaking losses

The Hofstra women’s basketball team is all in all having a very successful 2010/11 season so far with an 8-4 record, but three straight tight heart-wrenching losses on the road in the past week create extra importance for Thursday’s Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) opener against Towson.

After winning eight straight following a season-opening loss to Virginia, Hofstra dropped back-to-back two point losses to San Diego and Cincinnati at the Maggie Dixon Surf ‘N Slam Classic and then lost a 16 point second half lead in a 71-66 defeat at Delaware in the CAA opener Sunday. Despite the three stinging defeats that occurred with some players sick and in the midst of constant travel, the Pride are in positive spirits heading into Thursday, according to head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey.

"We just hit a bit of a bump in the road and faced some adversity and we just have to re-group as a whole” said Coach Kilburn-Steveskey. “They know that we are doing some good things and we just have to put it all together.”

Hofstra women's basketball vs. Hartford in-game blog

As the end of December brings frigid weather to Long Island the Hofstra women's basketball team's play keeps getting hotter with seven straight wins entering a Dec. 22 home matinee with Hartford.

Playing especially hot in the month of December has been Hofstra red-shirt junior point guard Candice Bellocchio, who has tallied a double-double in three of the last four games including 13 points and 10 assists in the Pride's 90-60 win at Albany Monday night. Freshman guard Kate Loper has also begun to heat up and scored a career high 21 points in the Albany win.

Hartford under head coach Jen Rizzotti has been a power in the America East the last decade with five NCAA Tournament appearances in the past eight years. However the Hawks have been struggling this year and snapped a six-game losing streak with a 74-43 win over Dartmouth on Dec. 12.

Check in with "Inside the Pride" for live updates of Hofstra's attempt to match its program-long winning streak of eight games starting 15 minutes before tip-off Wednesday at 1:45 p.m. Comments and questions are also welcome and encouraged during the live in-game blog.

Candace Bond stepping up offensive game for Hofstra women's basketball

 Courtesy Hofstra Athletic Communications
As a freshman last season Hofstra women’s basketball guard Candace Bond was known mainly for her intense defensive play but this year as a sophomore the Fort Washington, Md. native has developed into an offensive threat.

Bond, who averaged 2.7 points per game in 34 games off the bench last season, scored a career high 13 points in this past Sunday’s 89-73 win over Fairfield. Bond, who is averaging 6.2 points per game, said after Sunday’s Fairfield win that she has been working hard to refine her offensive game and even got kicked out of the gym once after spending extra time on shooting with teammate Candice Bellocchio.

“I think I’m really developing more of an offensive game.,” said Bond, who has cracked the starting line up early this season after coming off the bench as a freshman. “I’ve really been trying to work on my confidence offensively and then just repetition getting shots up.”

Bond's rock solid defense and improved offensive game has helped Hofstra win four straight after a season-opening loss to Virginia. The Pride will look for their fifth straight win tonight at Niagra starting at 7 p.m.

Hofstra women's basketball vs. Fairfield in-game blog

The Hofstra women's basketball team returns from a nearly two week layoff to face Fairfield Sunday afternoon at the Mack Sports Complex.

Sunday's home matinee against Fairfield will be the first for Hofstra (3-1) since winning 80-76 at Providence College on Nov. 22. Fairfield (4-2) is coming off a low scoring 30-29 loss at Villanova on Thursday. Hofstra sophomore guard Shante Evans will try and continue her recent hot play against Fairfield after scoring 26 points and pulling down 15 rebounds at Providence.

Check in with "Inside the Pride" for live updates of Hofstra's attempt to win its fourth in a row starting 15 minutes before tip-off Sunday at 1:45 p.m. Comments and questions are also welcome and encouraged during the live in-game blog.

Hofstra women's basketball vs. Virginia in-game blog

The Hofstra women’s basketball team is opening its 2010-11 season in grand style Friday night with a home game against Atlantic Coast Conference power Virginia.

Hofstra enters the new season with high expectations thank to returning eight starters from last year’s 20-14 team that advanced to the second round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament. Virginia finished last year 21-10 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The Cavaliers will be the first ACC team to visit the Mack Sports Complex since Georgia Tech narrowly defeated Hofstra 77-74 during the 2000-01 season.

Check in with "Inside the Pride" for live updates of Hofstra's quest to start off the 2010-11 season with a signature win starting 15 minutes before tip-off Friday night at 6:45 p.m.  Comments and questions are also welcome and encouraged during the live in-game blog.

Longtime Hofstra athletics administrator Cindy Lewis proud to see growth of women's sports since her playing days

 Courtesy Hofstra Athletic Communications
In the mid to late 1970’s when Hofstra’s Senior Associate Director of Athletics Cindy Lewis played field hockey and lacrosse at Berner High School in Massapequa, N.Y. and then for Hofstra, the climate of female sports was a very different story from where it is today. Lewis’s playing career came in the midst of America’s groundbreaking Title IX legislation being implemented, to ensure that female athletes had the same opportunities as their male counterparts, and the longtime Hofstra athletics administrator recalls how slow a process this was.

Today Lewis is happy to see that female athletics is thriving at Hofstra and throughout the country, and that the early days of Title IX’s implementation are becoming more and more distant. On Sept. 20 Lewis was honored at the 22nd annual Hofstra Pride Golf Classic and Auction for her 30 years of dedicated service to Hofstra’s athletics program, which has included helping to position the  women’s sports programs to be able to compete at the highest level. The golf classic is Hofstra’s signature fundraising event for the university’s athletics department, and this year in honor of Lewis the proceeds were used to benefit the school’s Women’s Athletic Fund. 

Hofstra women's basketball team's upcoming CAA Tourney has special meaning for Nicole Capurso

Courtesy Hofstra Athletic Communications

The Hofstra women’s basketball team is preparing for its first round Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Tournament game against William & Mary this Thursday, an event that will have a particular special meaning to sophomore guard Nicole Capurso, who was forced to miss last year’s postseason with a torn meniscus.

Last year Hofstra also matched up against William & Mary in its opening CAA tourney game and Capurso could only watch from the bench as the Pride let a lead 10 point lead slip away in a 63-62 loss in which the Tribe scored the game’s final 11 points. 

"It’s a do-over for our team so we’re going to take full advantage of that,” said Capurso of the Pride being matched against William & Mary for the second year in a row in the CAA Tournament first round. “We feel last year we didn’t give our best in the CAA Tournament and this year we can come back and do what we know we can do against William & Mary.”

Hofstra (18-12, 11-7 in the CAA) enters the postseason winners of eight of 10 but is coming off a 59-41 loss at Delaware that denied the Pride a chance of a first round bye and instead set them up as the number six seed.  “This is just one more hurdle we have to jump,” said Capurso of the Pride having to win four games rather than three to obtain the program’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament. 

Hofstra women's basketball enhances chance at CAA tourney bye with win over Northeastern

When Hofstra women’s basketball seniors Sam Brigham and Jess Fuller were taken out in the final moments of Sunday afternoon’s game against Northeastern both showed signs of emotions knowing they had just finished their last regular season home contest. However their heralded Hofstra careers are far from over as the Pride’s 53-37 win over the Huskies keeps them very much alive for a top four Colonial Athletic Association finish that would earn a first round bye at the conference tournament that gets underway March 11.

Hofstra’s 53-37 win over Northeastern before 622 fans at the Mack Sports Complex puts the Pride (18-11, 11-6 in CAA) into a three-way tie for third place in the conference standings with Virginia Commonwealth and Drexel. Hofstra closes out the regular season this Wednesday evening at Delaware(18-10, 10-7 in CAA), who is just one game behind the Pride, and the winner of this game may very well end up with that all-important first round bye.

Hofstra women's basketball wins close battle over George Mason

      On paper Thursday afternoon's Hofstra-George Mason women's basketball game looked like a mismatch after the Pride defeated the Patriots 72-39 in Fairfax, Va. just two weeks ago. However the last place team in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) gave Hofstra all they could handle before the Pride pulled away in the end for a 59-49 win in front of 1,016 fans during "Family Fun Day" at the Mack Sports Complex.
      Despite the Pride (15-11, 8-6 in CAA) having blown out George Mason on Feb. 4, Hofstra women's basketball head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey was not surprised that the result was much closer the second time around since the Patriots did not have starting point guard Brittany Poindexter in the first meeting. "Knowing that Brittany Poindexter did not play [in the first meeting] .... we knew had a pretty big task at hand," said Kilburn-Steveskey. "This team was a different team than we played last time."

Hofstra freshman Shante Evans showing why she is among CAA women's basketball elite

Picture Courtesy Hofstra Athletic Communications
Hofstra women’s basketball freshman forward Shante Evans is having a smash rookie season leading the Pride in both scoring (13.4 points per game) and rebounding (8.9 a game), and in normal circumstances would be a slam dunk for Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) rookie of the year. However Evans happens to be a freshman the same season as Delaware’s Elena Delle Donne, who had previously committed to national powerhouse Connecticut as the number one-rated recruit in the nation, and in her first season with the Blue Hens is averaging 25.8 points a game.

While winning CAA rookie of the year is unlikely for Evans given how dominant a force Delle Donne has been in Newark, Del., what is certain is that the 6’0 forward from West Chester, Pa. is one of the the biggest recruits ever landed by the Hofstra women’s basketball program. She was ranked the 54th best player in the class of 2009 as well as the ninth best forward by ESPN/HoopGurlz, and has been living up the hype so far in her short Hofstra career. Following a 28-point performance in a 73-58 win over UNC-Wilmington on Super Bowl Sunday, longtime Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Mel Greenberg wrote about how Evans has made an immediate impact on the Hofstra program in her freshman season.

Play of injured Fuller inspires Hofstra women's basketball to win over first place VCU

Four days after Jess Fuller suffered a severe sprained ankle against UNC-Wilmington the senior center decided to play through the pain in Thursday's women’s basketball matinee against Virginia Commonwealth. The 6’4 Fuller only logged 15 minutes but provided a spark off the bench with 10 points and one block to help the Pride upset the first place team in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA).

Thanks to the heroic effort from Fuller along with 19 points from sophomore guard Nicole Capurso, Hofstra defeated VCU 74-66 for its fourth win in five games. Sam Brigham also stepped up during the Pride's second of three weekday afternoon games this season with 17 points on 12-12 from the free throw line to help Hofstra improve to 14-10 and 7-5 in the CAA.

When Fuller first entered the game she blocked a shot with 1:46 left in the first half bringing the Hofstra bench to its feet. Her basket with 4:11 left in the second half game made it 63-56 Hofstra and gave the Pride some much-needed insurance after the Rams (16-8, 9-3 in CAA) had clawed their way back into the game after tailing by as many as 14.

Hofstra women's basketball steps up after Fuller injury in win over UNC-Wilmington

Just over five minutes into Super Bowl Sunday’s Hofstra-UNC Wilmington women’s basketball game Pride head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey raced across the court toward the direction of senior center Jess Fuller, who lay on the floor grimacing with pain. Fuller was helped off the court by the training staff and suddenly Hofstra was left without its tallest payer , who just one game ago became the program’s all-time leader in blocked shots.

With Fuller missing the Pride stepped up their games in a 73-58 win to give Hofstra (13-10, 6-5 in Colonial Athletic Association) its third win in four games. The 6'4 Fuller has a severally sprained ankle and her status for the remainder of the season is uncertain.

“I saw their eyes a little bit when she went down so that is why I ran out there so quick, “said Coach Kilburn-Steveskey of her initial worries that Fuller’s injury would cause the rest of the team to panic. “All she was caring about was us getting that [win] and I think we rallied around that situation.”

Stepping up large in Fuller’s absence were freshman forward Shante Evans with 28 points and senior guard Sam Brigham, who tallied 16 on 6-9 shooting. Sophomore guard Nicole Capurso was also in double figures with 12 points on four three pointers. Red-shirt sophomore had a solid all-around game with nine points and nine assists.

“We just picked each other up,” said Brigham of how the Pride responded once Fuller went down. “I feel like we really stepped up as a team.”

Hofstra will try and continue its recent momentum with a home game against first place Virginia Commonwealth this Thursday with a special Noon tipoff in honor of “Family Fun Day.”

Too much Delle Donne in Hofstra women's basketball loss to Delaware

Elena Delle Donne entered Sunday afternoon’s game with Hofstra as women’s college basketball’s fourth leading scorer and her versatile offensive skills were on full display for the 1,388 fans at the Mack Sports Complex. The 6’5 freshman sensation, who initially committed to national powerhouse Connecticut as the number one recruit in the country, scored 35 points including clutch back-to-back three pointers in the second half that paced the Blue Hens to a 71-65 win over the Pride.
 
“We were a little star struck for some reason,” said Hofstra women’s basketball head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey of how she felt her team responded to going up against someone of Delle Donne’s caliber.
 
With the loss to Colonial Athletic Association rival Delaware, the Pride drop into a three-way tie with William & Mary and Towson for sixth place in the conference standings.   

Hofstra women's basketball offense wakes up in win over William & Mary

For the first 10:32 of Thursday night’s Hofstra-William & Mary women’s basketball game the Pride were shooting under 20 percent and only had six points but luckily for the Pride the visiting Tribe's shooting was not much better. After being able to withstand some early offensive woes, Hofstra found its shooting touch the remainder of the game to post a 68-51 victory for its third win in four games.

Thursday night’s win by Hofstra (10-8, 3-3 in the Colonial Athletic Association)  avenges a 55-48 loss at William & Mary 18 days ago in the conference opener where the Pride let a six point lead with 6:39 left slip away. In the rematch with the Tribe, Hofstra had three players in double-figures led by freshman power forward Shante Evans, who had her ninth career double-double with 18 points on 9-12 shooting and 18 rebounds. “

“[Evans] is just relentless,” said Hofstra women’s basketball head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey, who notched her 57th career victory Thursday to move into third place in the program’s all-time wins list in just her fourth season. “She is a special player because of so many attributes.”

Hofstra women's basketball picks up first CAA win with triumpth of Georgia State

Being in the midst of a four-game losing streak and facing the prospect of an 0-3 conference start, the Hofstra women’s basketball team came into its Jan. 10th home game against Georgia State with a sense of urgency and it showed on defense. After quickly falling behind 5-0 the Pride held the Panthers to only four field goals the remainder of the first half.

Hofstra’s ability to hold Georgia State’s offense at bay with only 30 percent shooting for the game helped the Pride (8-7, 1-2 in the Colonial Athletic Association) pick up a critical 58-49 win to avoid that dreaded 0-3 conference start.

“We’ve weathered a nice tornado, tsunami and we’re getting out of [the storm],” said Hofstra women’s basketball head coach Krista Kilburn- Steveskey of the Pride snapping its five-game losing streak.