Newark, DE - Lauren Carra scored a game-high 29 points to lead Delaware to a 71-66 victory over Hofstra in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) opener for both teams on Sunday afternoon at the Bob Carpenter Center.
Hofstra, which was led by 17 points from junior guard Nicole Capurso, falls to 8-4 (0-1 CAA) with its third straight defeat. Delaware improves to 8-4 and 1-0 in conference play.
Hofstra played stellar defense early on in the first and also closed the half on a nice run. The Pride jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the contest as they forced Delaware to miss eight of its first nine shots from the field.
Delaware would rally and eventually take a 22-20 lead on a layup from Kelsey Buchanan with 4:06 to play before intermission. Hofstra stepped up its defensive intensity from that point, though, and the Pride closed the half on an 18-6 run to take a 38-28 lead into the break. Hofstra forced six turnovers in the final four-plus minutes of the half and in total forced 13 turnovers, leading to nine points in the opening twenty minutes. Freshman guard Annie Payton was a huge spark in the first half for the Pride as she notched nine points, while junior guard Candice Bellocchio had seven points and four assists in the opening stanza.
Hofstra pushed its lead to 16, 45-29, with 17:16 to play in the second stanza as the Pride opened the half by scoring seven of the first eight points. Capurso had a pair of baskets during the run to extend the lead to 16.
After the Pride pushed the lead to 16, Delaware rallied and used a 14-2 run to close to within 47-43 with 13:25 left, forcing Hofstra to call a timeout.
The run would continue for the Blue Hens as they added eight more points to take a 51-47 lead with 11:12 to play, with the run ending up as a 22-2 run in all.
Hofstra's defense once again became the focal point as the Pride used a 10-0 scoring spurt to retake the lead at 57-51 on two free throws from Payton with 9:52 on the clock.
The game would still be tied late as a three-pointer from Carra evened the score at 58 with 7:09 remaining.
Delaware would take control at that point, and the Blue Hens scored nine of the next 12 points to lead 67-61. Capurso would drain a three-pointer from the top of the key with 1:33 to play to cut the deficit to 67-64, and then a layup from freshman forward Anma Onyeuku closed the gap to 67-66 with under a minute to play.
Two free throws from Carra extended the lead to 69-66 with 25 ticks left on the clock before a three-pointer from Capurso missed and Delaware added two more from the charity stripe to account for the 71-66 final score.
Sophomore forward Shante Evans had a game-high tying 13 rebounds in the contest, to go along with six points. Also in double figures for Hofstra was Onyeuku with 16 points and Payton with 15. Bellocchio chipped in with nine points and six assists.
Bailey added 19 points for the Blue Hens, while Danielle Parker added 11 points and 13 rebounds.
Hofstra returns to action on Thursday when it hosts Towson at 7 p.m. That contest will air on a tape delay basis on Verizon FiOS1.
