Harrisonburg, VA - Senior guard Sam Brigham had 15 points and seven rebounds, and freshman forward Shante Evans added 10 points and 11 rebounds for her Colonial Athletic Association (CAA)-leading 14th double-double of the season as the Hofstra Women's Basketball team advanced to the quarterfinals of the CAA Championship with a 66-50 victory over William & Mary on Thursday evening at the JMU Convocation Center.

Sixth-seeded Hofstra improves to 19-12 with the win, the Pride's fifth in its last six games. Hofstra is also now 8-2 since February 1. William & Mary ends its season with a 12-17 record.

Tonight's game marked the sixth time in Hofstra's nine seasons in the CAA that the Pride and William & Mary have met in the conference tournament. Hofstra leads the all-time series 15-8-1, and also hold a 4-2 advantage in meetings that have taken place during the conference tournament. Hofstra and William & Mary split this season's regular season meetings with both teams winning on their home courts.

With her three blocks in the game this evening, senior center Jess Fuller now has 201 career blocks and is just the sixth person in CAA history to reach the 200 career blocks milestone. She currently ranks sixth all-time in CAA history and is two behind Tiffany Green of Old Dominion, who blocked 203 shots from 2004-09.

Brigham, who was appearing in her 119th career game which tied her with Lizanne Murphy for fourth all-time in program history, shot 5-10 from the field, including 2-4 from three-point range en route to her 15 points. She also tied for the team lead with three assists.

Hofstra would take the lead into the intermission as junior guard Aamira Terry fed junior forward Marie Malone for a layup with seven seconds left that gave the Pride a 25-22 advantage in a low-scoring first stanza. It would nearly equal the largest lead for either team in the opening twenty minutes as Hofstra held a 12-8 lead with 13:11 left in the half following another basket from Malone. 

Hofstra trailed 20-18 with just under six minutes left in the first half following a jumper from Emily Correal before the Pride closed the half with seven of the final nine points to take the three-point lead into the break. 

Brigham led Hofstra with nine points in the opening stanza, while Malone added eight points and three rebounds in a strong half. 

A jumper from the wing courtesy of Brigham with 17:16 left in the second half keyed a half-opening 9-5 that pushed Hofstra's lead to 34-27 and forced William & Mary to utilize their first timeout of the contest.

A three-pointer from red-shirt sophomore guard Candice Bellocchio as the shot clocked expired just under four minutes into the second stanza would put the margin at double digits for the first time all game at 37-27 in favor of the Pride.

Hofstra would hold a 42-31 lead in the game before William & Mary tallied five straight points, culminating in a layup by Correal, that closed the Tribe to within 42-36 with 12:35 to play. A three-pointer from sophomore guard Nicole Capurso gave Hofstra back a nine-point lead and gave the Pride some much needed breathing room with 12:09 left in regulation.

William & Mary would only get as close as five, 45-40 with just over 11 minutes left, before Hofstra gradually pulled away for the 16-point win.

In addition to her double-double, Evans also added three assists, one steal and one block. Fuller chipped in 12 points and six rebounds to go along with her three blocks. The Pride also got double-digit scoring from Capurso (13 points) and Malone (11 points).

Correal finished with 11 points for William & Mary, while teammate Tasha Pye also scored 11 points.