Hempstead, N.Y. – After posting its first victory of the season, Hofstra will start the road portion of the schedule on Friday with a 7 p.m. game against Fordham at Rose Hill Gym. SportsNet New York (SNY) will televise the game and free audio will be available via Pride Productions.

Both teams are coming off the first win of the season. Hofstra (1-1) defeated Fairfield at home while Fordham (1-2) upended Mount St. Mary's, 61-37.

Sophomore Kelly Loftus, who has seen time at guard and forward, tied a career-high with 14 points in the Fairfield game and knocked down a trio of three-pointers. Fellow sophomore Krystal Luciano has handled the bulk of the ball-handling responsibilities thus far and is coming off a seven-point, six-rebound, six-assist game. She has logged six assists and at least 34 minutes in each of the first two games.

Freshman guard Ashunae Durant has been a  nearly posted a double-double in her collegiate debut, notching 11 points and nine rebounds in 30 minutes in her first career start versus CCSU. Durant grabbed seven offensive boards and added three steals and two assists to fill up the stat line. Durant then followed that up with 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting versus Fairfield and was 6-for-6 from the free throw line with no turnovers in 31 minutes for a highly efficient output.

Fordham is coming off an Atlantic 10 championship. Junior forward Samantha Clark, a key contributor on that team that earned Fordham the second NCAA Tournament bid in program history, was named to the third-team All-Preseason Atlantic 10 squad. Clark is averaging five points and 6.7 rebounds this season.

Emily Tapio leads Fordham with an average of 14 points while G'mrice Davis has been a force on both ends with 7.3 points and 6.7 rebounds. The Rams have played strong three-point defense in holding opponents to 23.1 percent shooting from long range.

While Fordham has been stellar on the perimeter, the Pride will look to benefit from sophomore forward Elo Edeferioka's fast start to gain a post advantage. Edeferioka is leading Hofstra in both points and rebounds by averaging 15 points and nine boards. The Warri, Nigeria native notched her fifth career double-double in the season-opening win over CCSU and is averaging 26.5 minutes in the young season.

Junior Dee Thomas-Palmer has come off the bench to support Edeferioka at the forward spot. Thomas-Palmer is shooting 4-for-6 on the season in averaging seven points in 14 minutes. After connecting on a single three-pointer in each of her first two seasons, the Philadelphia product already connected on a long-range try in the first half versus Fairfield to break a 10-all deadlock.

Hofstra is 8-9 in the all-time series against Fordham. The teams first met in the 1969-70 season. The Pride defeated the Rams, 77-64, at the Mack Sports Complex last season. Anma Onyeuku scored 23 points in the game to give Hofstra win in the series for the first time since the 1999-00 season. Hofstra's last win at Fordham came in 1985-86.

Hofstra has not allowed a team to shoot 50 percent or better from the field since 2012-13. After keeping all teams below that threshold in 2013-14 (and holding 18 opponents to less than 40 percent shooting), the Pride has continued that trend this season with CCSU and Fairfield being limited to less than 50 percent.