Huge team effort for women's basketball helps in win against College of Charleston

A huge team effort from Hofstra women’s basketball on Friday night in which three players scored in double-digits propelled the Pride to a victory against the College of Charleston, 68-49. With the win, the Pride move to 9-18 overall and 3-12 in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play.

Senior guard Boogie Brozoski led Hofstra with 19 points and six rebounds, followed closely by junior Ana Hernandez Gil who dropped 17 points, including 5 three-pointers. Freshman Caria Reynolds also contributed 12 points and 11 rebounds to the win, marking her first double-double of her collegiate career.

Despite Hofstra’s strong output by the end of the game, Charleston came out swinging to start the game and quickly took the lead, going up 10-0 with 7:28 left going into a media timeout.

“[During the timeout] I said something that I don’t always say: ‘we have time but we cannot continue this way,” head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey said.

“She was saying ‘We’re ok. We’re ok. Constant positive motivation’” Brozoski added.

It was this positive motivation that helped the Pride to a 14-4 run (including six points from Reynolds), closing the point gap to 19-16 at the end of the first quarter.

“My outlook on the game was to go in and be really aggressive,” Reynolds said. “Instead of thinking about me scoring, to just go in and fight for my team.”

The second quarter was owned by Hernandez Gil as her four three-pointers helped the Pride go on a 17-4 run, jumping out to a 10 point lead, 33-23 with 5:54 left in the second quarter.

“When she’s hot, she’s hot. You’ve got to find her” Brozoski said of Hernandez Gil.

An additional three-pointer from Sica Cuzic and two lay-ups from both teams each brought the score to 40-29 going into halftime.

Coming out of the locker room, the Cougars attempted to close the point gap, outscoring the Pride 8-6 over the first 6:21 and bringing the score to 45-37 with 3:39 left. But the efforts fell short as Hofstra brought their lead back out to 53-39 with an 8-2 run to close the third quarter.

The Pride held onto their significant lead during the remainder of the game as Charleston’s attempt to close the gap came only as close as 10 points, 55-45, with 6:06 remaining in the fourth quarter. A final 11-1 run by the Pride, including seven from Brozoski, led to the Pride’s largest point gap of the night: 66-46 with 2:51 remaining in the game.

With roughly three minutes left, a single three-pointer from Charleston and an additional two points from Hernandez Gil was all that took place as Hofstra defeated the College of Charleston Cougars, 68-49.

“We had an incredible team effort with 13 team assists,” Kilburn-Steveskey said. “Great leadership by Boogie and great support from everybody.”

Marianne Kalin also contributed significantly on the defensive line.

“Stats don’t always tell the story,” Kilburn-Steveskey said. “Marianne Kalin played an incredible defensive game… I’ve been pushing her hard on the offensive piece, but man I’ve really got to talk about what she did defensively.”

Hofstra hopes to continue their team-mentality through the rest of the season.

“We need everybody,” Brozoski said. “It’s late season now; our bodies are pretty banged up. We need everyone to contribute whether there’s 20 seconds [left] or 20 minutes. We need everyone to bring what they have…”

The Pride are currently on a two game win-streak and will look to make it three on Saturday March 2 as they face the University of North Carolina Wilmington for their last home game of the season at 1 p.m.

This article was originally published on www.thehofstrachronicle.com.

Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics