WBB: Hofstra Drops Closely-Contested Battle At VCU

2/13/2011 9:04:00 PM

Richmond, VA – Sophomore forward Shante Evans had 25 points and 10 rebounds for her 12th double-double of the season, but it wasn't enough as Virginia Commonwealth rallied for a 85-76 victory over Hofstra on Sunday afternoon at the Verizon Wireless Arena.

The loss drops Hofstra's record to 14-10 overall and 6-7 in conference action. VCU improves to 14-9 and 9-4 with the win.

In a battle of two of the top players in the conference, Evans and VCU's Courtney Hurt put on quite a show. Hurt finished with game-highs of 26 points and 15 rebounds.

It was a very evenly played first half as the two squads went into the break knotted at 40. A three-pointer from Sonia Johnson at the 14:20 mark of the first stanza would give the Rams an early 17-11 advantage, forcing Hofstra to call a timeout that allowed the Pride to rally. Evans, who was on fire in the first twenty minutes, would lead Hofstra on a 14-3 scoring run that pushed the Pride to a 25-20 advantage with 10:31 left before intermission. Evans had eight points during the run and scored 16 in the opening half to lead the way for the Pride.

Hofstra was forced to battle back late in the half as the Pride trailed 40-35 after a layup from Andrea Barbour with 1:49 left. It would be a team effort down the stretch of the first half for Hofstra as two free throws from freshman guard Kate Loper , followed by a free throw from junior guard Jael Pena brought the score to 40-38 in favor of VCU before junior guard Asia Jenkins closed the first half scoring with a layup with 21 seconds to play before the break.

Hurt would hit a jumper at the 16:13 mark of the second half to put the Rams in front by two, 48-46, before Hofstra used an 11-2 run to take a 57-50 lead with 13:01 to play following a layup from junior guard Nicole Capurso . It marked Hofstra's largest lead of the game to that point.

VCU would gradually chip away at the deficit and a free throw from Sonia Johnson with 10:29 to play in regulation cut the Hofstra lead to 59-57.

Two Loper free throws with 8:28 left would push Hofstra's advantage back up to four at 63-59, but Barbour knotted the game at 65 with an old-fashioned three-pointer play with 6:57 to play.

It would be a back and forth final few minutes with Hurt giving VCU a narrow three-point lead (74-71) with just under three minutes left.

A three-point play from Evans with 2:28 left on the clock made the score 76-74 in favor of the Rams, but that would be as close as the Pride would get as VCU held on for the nine-point victory.

Loper finished with 16 points for Hofstra, while sophomore forward Candace Bond added 12 points and six rebounds.

Johnson added 19 points and 10 rebounds for VCU, while Barbour chipped in with 15 points, nine rebounds and five assists.

Hofstra will stay on the road for its next game as the Pride travels to Northeastern on Thursday for a 7 p.m. contest.

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