Hempstead, NY – Junior Ashunae Durant scored a game-high 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds and senior Krystal Luciano added 12 points including 10 in the second half to lead the Hofstra Pride to a 58-53 Senior Day victory over the Drexel Dragons in a Colonial Athletic Association contest at the David S. Mack Sports Complex Sunday afternoon.

Hofstra improved to 12-16 overall and 5-12 in the CAA while Drexel slipped to 20-8 on the season and 11-6 in conference play.

Durant, who led the Pride in scoring for the 18th time this season and just missed her 16th double-double of the season by just one rebound, tallied 15 points in the first half and 10 in the second on 10 of 12 shooting and 5-for-5 from the charity stripe. Luciano dished out a game-high seven assists-leading the team for the 26th time this season-and grabbed five rebounds. Fellow senior Sydni Epps grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds for the Pride. After a slow start, Hofstra finished shooting 43 percent (23-53) from the field.

Drexel was led by senior Sarah Curran with 18 points, on 8-of-15 shooting, and dished out a team-high three assists. Classmate Jessica Pellechio added 13 points-all in the second half-and grabbed four rebounds. The Dragons hit on 21 of 51 field goal attempts for a 41 percent average.

Both teams got off to cold starts with each team hitting just one of their first seven field goal attempts over the first 5:30 as the Pride took a 4-2 lead. But Olivia Askin's three-pointer at the 4:08 mark gave Hofstra its biggest lead of the quarter at 7-2. The Dragons then scored the next six points on three-pointers by Curran and freshman Ana Ferariu to take an 8-7 with 2:27 to play in the period.

Senior Sandra Dongmo for Hofstra and Ferariu for Drexel exchanged baskets before Dongmo scored inside again to give the Pride an 11-10 lead with 1:17 to play. Junior Sara Woods hit a free throw 21 seconds later to tie the game at 11 and end the first quarter scoring.

In the second quarter, after Durant gave Hofstra a 13-11 lead on a jumper 1:02 into the period, Drexel went on a 6-0 spurt behind four points from sophomore Tereza Kracikova to open their biggest lead of the half at 17-13 with 5:52 to play. But Hofstra responded with jumpers by Durant and Luciano to tie the game 2:10 later.

Curran hit a three-pointer to put Drexel up, 20-17 with 2:39 to play in the period. Hofstra then went on a 7-0 run, with Durant scoring all seven points, to take a 24-20 lead with 1:12 remaining in the half. The Dragons closed to within one by halftime on a jumper by Curran and a free throw by Kracikova to close to 24-23 at the break. Curran has 12 of Drexel's points while Durant had 15 for the Pride.

The pace picked up in the third quarter with the Pride never relinquishing the lead although there were two tied scores, the latest at 31-all after junior Kelsi Lidge hit a three-pointer with 6:36 to play in the quarter. But Hofstra went on a 7-2 run with Askin's three-pointer giving the Pride a 38-33 lead with 3:16 remaining in the third. Drexel responded with its own 6-2 run closing the deficit to 40-39 with 34 second left on Curran's hook shot in the lane.

Hofstra came out in the fourth quarter and opened with a 7-2 run behind a three-pointer from Luciano and baskets by Epps and junior Aleana Leon to open up a 47-41 lead with 7:30 to play. The Dragons answered with a three-pointer from Pellechio and two free throws from Woods to close to 47-46. But after Luciano and Pellechio exchanged three-point goals to bump the score to 50-49, Luciano followed with her third three-pointer of the game and a Leon added a jumper to put the Pride up, 55-49 with 2:38 to play.

Curran hit a jumper for Drexel and Durant followed with two free throws to keep the Pride up by six at 57-51 with 1:44 to play. But Curran hit a reverse lay-up 16 seconds later to close the gap to four at 57-53. Luciano hit one of two free throws with 16.9 seconds remaining to close out the scoring and give Hofstra its second win in the last three outings.

Hofstra wraps up its regular season schedule this Wednesday when the Pride travel to Boston to face the Huskies of Northeastern University. Game time is 7 p.m.