Elon Women’s Basketball falls short to Hofstra, losing 53-55 

The Elon women’s basketball team fought to the finish at Alumni gym but couldn’t pull off a win against Hofstra on Feb. 15. The Phoenix attempted to go to overtime with 4.2 seconds left on the clock, but couldn’t make the shot, giving Hofstra the 55-53 win.

Shay Burnett scored a team-high 11 points, followed by Zora Stephenson’s 10 points and Sam Coffer’s seven.

With the game tied at 5-all in the first, a three pointer by Coffer initiated a 10-2 run from the Phoenix, giving them an 8 point advantage with 14:33 left in the first half. The Pride then closed the gap to a mere 6 points, 19-13, the Phoenix went on to create the biggest deficit of the game for Hofstra, 28-15. Hofstra came back with a vengeance, cutting Elon’s lead to 5 after an 11-3 run. At the half, Elon lead 33-26.

Elon women’s basketball coach Charlotte Smith emphazised the importance of defense, “Any minor lapse that you have can afford an opponent an opportunity to get back in the game.  I thought we played solid in the first half, and that was our goal, to amp up, beef up our defense. The second half, we weren’t as focused in terms of boxing out.”

After the break, Hofstra cut the lead to three, before both a jumper and a three pointer by Stephenson increased the maroon and gold’s lead to eight 38-30, with 15:42 left. Hofstra retaliated by making it a 38-37 game, only to then go on a 7-0 run to lead by 4.

Elon lead 50-46 with 2:27 remaining, but the Pride took advantage of the final minute of the game, leading by two, 52-50.

Elon will travel to Boston for its next game at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 19, against Northeastern in the Cabot Center.