Philadelphia, PA - Junior guard Nicole Capurso had 16 points and a career-high eight rebounds, but it was not enough as Drexel pulled away from Hofstra in the second half en route to a 69-57 victory over the Pride on Sunday afternoon at the Daskalakis Athletic Center.
The loss drops Hofstra's record to 11-7 overall and 3-4 in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play, while Drexel improves to 12-6 and 4-3 in conference action.
Hofstra had a rough shooting first half as the Pride managed to shoot just 28.6% (8-28), with Drexel racing out to a 32-20 halftime advantage.
The Pride missed its first eight shots from the field as sophomore forward Shante Evans got the Pride on the board with a jumper at the 13:39 mark of the first half. The Dragons led the entire opening stanza, taking as much as a 14-point advantage at 26-12 with 3:32 left on a basket from Kamile Nacickaite.
Hofstra would come out of the halftime break on fire as the Pride scored the first nine points of the second stanza to trail 32-29 just under four minutes into the half.
A three-pointer from sophomore forward Candace Bond got Hofstra started and then back-to-back baskets from Evans continued the run. A layup from Capurso, who had seven first half points, completed the half-opening run.
Drexel would quickly push the lead back to seven before a Capurso free throw ended the run, but the Dragons were able to add a 6-0 scoring run to take a 42-30 advantage following a Jasmina Rosseel layup with 11:25 left in the second half.
The Dragons would have an answer for every Pride run in the second stanza as after a three-pointer from freshman guard Kate Loper cut the deficit to nine, 42-33, Rosseel pushed the lead back to 12 with a trifecta of her own with 9:57 remaining.
Rosseel, who was scoreless in the first half, would keep the Dragons in front during the second half as she scored all of her 26 points during the game's final 20 minutes.
After Drexel got the lead back to 12 points at the 9:57 mark Hofstra was unable to get the deficit back under 12 as they fell to the Dragons.
Evans finished with 12 points and six rebounds for Hofstra, while Loper added nine points.
Nacickaite had 19 points and eight rebounds for the Dragons, which also got 11 points and 15 rebounds from Tyler Hale.
Hofstra returns to action on Thursday when it travels to UNC Wilmington for a 7 p.m. contest.
