Sophomore forward Lizanne Murphy (Beaconfield, Quebec - pictured) had 17 points and 13 rebounds as the Hofstra Women's Basketball team used a dominant second half to storm past William & Mary and capture a 68-52 win in the opening round of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament on Wednesday evening at the Patriot Center.

With the win, the seventh-seeded Pride improves to 13-15 on the season and moves on to face second-seeded Old Dominion (19-8) in the quarterfinals on Thursday at 5 p.m. William & Mary sees its season end at 4-24.

Hofstra trailed 27-26 at halftime, and William & Mary extended its lead to 29-26 in the opening minutes of the second half. However, the Pride answered with a 17-0 run to take command of the contest. Murphy started the rally with a jumper and a three-pointer from sophomore guard Cigi McCollin (Long Island City, NY) gave Hofstra the lead for good at 31-29.

Another Murphy basket stretched the lead to 33-29 and sophomore center Vanessa Gidden (Fairfield, CT) chipped in with six straight points to give Hofstra a double-digit lead at 39-29. Murphy scored again to make the score 41-29 before junior guard Tenicha Gittens (Brossard, Quebec) capped off the 17-0 spurt.

William & Mary's Kyle DeHaven sparked a mini-run to get the Tribe back within 48-38. Hofstra, though, scored the next eight points, capped off by a lay-up from sophomore forward Lana Harshaw (Wildwood, NJ), to forge ahead 56-38 and the Tribe was unable to threaten the rest of the way.

Hofstra led the entire first half until the closing seconds, as it jumped out of the gates quickly to a 7-0 lead. Senior guard Charlotte Baldrey-Chourio (Surrey, England) opened the scoring with a three-pointer, and freshman guard Jenna McSpadden (Austin, TX) capped off the run with another three-pointer at the 16:15 mark to put the Pride ahead 7-0.

Hofstra took its largest lead of the first half at 23-15 on a three-pointer from McCollin with 6:44 remaining, but William & Mary closed out the opening stanza with a 12-3 run. Lindsey Brizendine capped off the rally with a 15-foot baseline jumper with six seconds left on the clock to give the Tribe a 27-26 lead at the break.

Murphy's double-double was her 14th of the season, tops in the CAA. Gidden also had a double-double for the Pride with 10 points and 13 rebounds, while McCollin had 14 points and Gittens added a season-high 10 points. Devin James led William & Mary with 20 points, while DeHaven had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.