WASHINGTON — Two of Hampton’s three wins in the regular season came against Hofstra. The Pirates couldn’t make it three victories over the Pride, falling to Hofstra 71-55 on Wednesday in the first round of the CAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at the Entertainment and Sports Arena.
“They made some adjustments,” said Hampton coach David Six. “We tried to adjust. We just didn’t make great adjustments.”
Hampton’s victories over Hofstra were by five and six points, and both teams finished with 3-13 records in the regular season. HU earned the 12th seed on a tiebreaker, and Hofstra was No. 13.
So, it wasn’t surprising when it was a two-point game at halftime, with Hampton (3-26) ahead. However, the Pride (10-20) opened the second half on a 21-4 run, sinking eight consecutive field goals, including three 3-pointers, in one stretch. That was after shooting 9 for 29 in the first half and missing their first 10 3-pointers of the game.
Meanwhile, Hampton was just 5 of 13 from the field and got outscored 25-12 in the decisive third quarter.
“Teams go on runs,” Six said. “They were doing some trapping … and caught us by surprise. We didn’t adjust to that. When they were trapping, I think that affected our shooting a little bit.”
The Pride scored nine consecutive points early in the fourth for a 55-36 lead and the game wasn’t in doubt after that. Hampton cut the deficit to 10 with three minutes to go, but Alarice Gooden, who led the Pride with a career-high 19 points, made four consecutive free throws for a 14-point lead with two minutes remaining.
Cheyenne Talbot led Hampton with 18 points and six rebounds. Camryn Hill, a third-team all-CAA selection averaging 14.5 points, had just 10. She played just 29 minutes because of injuries.
“To her credit … she played all year with a disk problem in her back,” Six said of Hill, a senior guard/forward. “She had a hurt toe. No excuses, though. Congratulations to Hofstra. They move on.”
Supporting Gooden was Brooke Anya, a transfer from Longwood, with 14 points and seven rebounds, Emma Von Essen with 12 points, and Zyheima Swint with 10 points and 13 rebounds for Hofstra.
Talbot, a senior guard, said the Pirates didn’t play with the same energy in the second half as they did in the first.
“We tried our best,” she said. “The first half, it was like we wanted to win.”
One of the challenges in trying to beat an opponent three times in one year is convincing your team not to take things for granted. Six didn’t say that was the case with his team, but Hofstra may have had extra motivation because of those earlier results.
“They didn’t want to lose three times to one team,” Six said of the Pride. “They showed up tonight.”
The Pride will try to do the same in Thursday’s quarterfinals against No. 5 seed William & Mary (15-13, 12-6). The Tribe swept the season series, winning 48-46 at Hofstra in early January and 61-50 in Williamsburg 19 days later.
