Hempstead, NY – The Hofstra Women's Basketball team heads to Virginia Commonwealth on Thursday to begin a two-game road trip that culminates with a contest at George Mason on Sunday.
The Pride and the Rams will kick off at 7 p.m. on Thursday from Richmond, Virginia, with both squads needing a win to gain some momentum as the regular season winds down.
Hofstra (16-6, 8-3 CAA) has won two of its last three games but dropped its last contest to Old Dominion on Sunday by the score of 81-79. The Pride fought back from a nearly 20-point deficit to tie the score in the final minute but the Lady Monarchs scored the game-winner with just 2.7 seconds left to earn the narrow victory. Hofstra placed three players in double figures in the game as junior forward Shante Evans had a season-high 31 points and added 10 rebounds for a double-double. Also scoring in double figures were senior guard Nicole Capurso (19 points) and senior center Marie Malone (10 points).
Senior guard Candice Bellocchio is nearly a pair of career milestones as the fifth-year player from Staten Island, NY has 987 career points and has played in 124 career games with the Pride. She is just 13 points shy of becoming only the 23rd member of the 1000-Point Club at Hofstra and is just two games played shy of tying Cigi McCollin (2002-07) for the most games played in program history.
VCU will bring a 13-9 overall record and a 6-5 conference mark into Thursday's encounter. The Rams have also won two of their last three games and suffered a defeat to Delaware in their last game. Courtney Hurt leads VCU in scoring and rebounding with averages of 22.3 points and 12.5 rebound per game. Andrea Barbour also averages in double figures with 17.1 points per outing.
The Rams lead the all-time series, 15-5, and have won four straight in the series. Three of the last four meetings have occurred in the postseason as the two teams have met twice in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championship and once in the Postseason Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT).
Live audio and statistics for the game are available at GoHofstra.com.
