THE FIRST LOOK
Hofstra and James Madison will meet for the first time this season on Friday, January 11 at 7:00 pm at the Convocation Center in Harrisonburg, Va. Hofstra (6-8, 0-2 CAA) most recently had its three-game win streak snapped as the Pride dropped the first two games of the Colonial Athletic Association opening weekend to William & Mary (60-55) on Friday and Elon (66-64). on Sunday. James Madison (10-3, 2-0 CAA), who moved up five spots to No. 12 in this week's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top-25 poll, is currently riding a four-game win streak and defeated Delaware (68-43) and Drexel (51-35) in the first weekend of conference action.
 
GETCHA' TICKETS!
Tickets can be purchased at www.jmusports.com or by clicking the link at the top of this page. 
 
HOW TO WATCH
There will be live video available via CAA.tv. There will also be Pride Productions live audio and live statistics available.
 
LAST TIME THEY MET
The Pride dropped both ends of the series to the Dukes last season. On Friday, December 29, James Madison defeated Hofstra at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex, 55-42 before the Pride traveled to Harrisonburg on January 26 and fell in that contest, 73-56. The last time that the two teams met, Mikiyah Croskey net a career-high 18 points and was 8-of-9 from field goal range with six rebounds and two assists. Boogie Brozoski also added 10 points for the Pride while Marianne Kalin finished with seven. Kamiah Smalls led the Dukes with 16 points, going 6-of-17 from the field with four three-pointers.
 
HOFSTRA'S LAST TIME OUT
Boogie Brozoski (15 points), Ana Hernandez Gil (14 points) and E'Lexus Davis (13 points) each scored in double figures for Hofstra, but Elon pulled away in the fourth quarter to post a 77-64 CAA victory at the Mack Sports Complex on Sunday afternoon. Elon outscored the Pride, 21-12 in the fourth quarter. At the half, the Pride trailed Elon just by four points, 38-34. The Phoenix opened the third quarter with a 13-2 run to extend the lead to 51-36, but Hofstra answered with an 11-0 run over the next 2:44 to get within four. A three-point play by Brozoski made it a one-point game, 53-52 in favor of Elon with 2:03 to play, but Powell gave the Phoenix some breathing room with a three-pointer on Eon's next trip to make it 56-52 and neither team would score again in the quarter.
 
INSIDE THE SERIES

• Hofstra and James Madison meet for the 33rd time in program history
• James Madison leads the all-time series, 23-9 (.782)
• The first meeting between the two teams came during the 1983-83 season when Hofstra won, 60-55.
• Hofstra has not defeated the Dukes in the last six meetings. The last time Hofstra beat James Madison was on Sunday, February 22, 2015 in Harrisonburg when the Pride beat the No. 23 ranked Dukes, 63-62.
• James Madison defeated Hofstra, 73-56 on its home court the last time the two teams met.
• The Dukes has swept Hofstra the last three seasons
• Krista Kilburn-Steveskey 3-19 (.136) against the Dukes

 
A WIN OVER JAMES MADISON WOULD…

• increase Hofstra's overall record to 7-8 and 1-2 in the CAA
• be the first win over the Dukes since Sunday, February 22, 2015
• be the 209th career win for Kilburn-Steveskey
• be the 10th victory over the Dukes in Hofstra women's basketball history
• be the 710th known victory in the history of Hofstra women's basketball and 466th at the NCAA Division I level

 
SCOUTING THE PRIDE
On Friday evening, the  Pride will need to play mistake-free offense against the Dukes. The Dukes have one of the top defenses in the league, ranking second in scoring defense and first in field goal defense and three-point defense. Because the Dukes allow only 3.0 three-pointers per game, Hofstra's three-point threat duo of Boogie Brozoski and Ana Hernandez Gil may be limited behind the arc despite both ranking top-10 in the CAA in three-pointers per game. On the interior, Marianne Kalin and Jaylen Hines will need to continue their upward trend in scoring, but will have to get past Kayla Cooper-Williams who is second in the conference in blocks per game to help out the Pride offense. Last Friday, Kalin provided one of her best games of the season, scoring 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Kalin's 8.0 points per game ranks fourth on the team and leads all forwards on the team in scoring. She also ranks third in the CAA in field goal percentage (.480). Finally, the Pride ranks fourth in the CAA in three-point defense (.278), which will help calm down the Dukes who rank fourth in the league in three-point field goal percentage (.343) and are tied for second in three-pointers made per game with 7.1.
 
On the stat sheet, Brozoski leads the Pride in scoring, averaging 15.0 points per game which ranks seventh in the CAA in scoring. Behind Brozoski, Cuzic averages 11.1 points per contest, followed by Hernandez Gil who chips in 9.5 points per contest.
 
Hofstra is led by head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey in her 13th season. She has averaged nearly 17 wins per season since arriving on campus in 2006 while posting seven winning seasons and leading the Pride to five appearances in the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) including two consecutive appearances in 2014-15 and 2015-16. In addition, Kilburn-Steveskey is the winningest coach in Pride history, capturing her 200th win last season against Charleston.
 
SCOUTING THE DUKES
Taking down the Dukes will be a tough task for the Pride, as James Madison is currently riding an 18-game home winning streak which is currently the fourth-longest in program history. James Madison enters the second weekend of CAA action in second place in the league and was picked to finish first in the 2018-19 CAA Preseason Poll. Currently, the Dukes have the second-best scoring defense throughout the CAA, holding opponents to an average of 51.7 points per game behind Drexel who leads the nation in scoring defense. In addition, JMU has held four opponents to 40 or fewer points this year and 10 of fewer points in 15 of 52 quarters this season. The Dukes also lead the conference in scoring margin (+12.8), field goal defense (.322) three-point field goal defense (.217), and rebounding margin (+9.2). Finally, James Madison is tied for second in three-pointers per game with 7.1 triples per game. Earlier this season, the Dukes drained 18 three-pointers against Delaware State which matched a CAA single-game record.
 
The Dukes will put its weight on the shoulders of Kamiah Smalls, the 2018-19 CAA Preseason Player of the Year, who has reached double figures in all 13 games so far and became the 31^st member of JMU's 1,000-point club on December 30. This season, Smalls is fourth in the conference in scoring with 17.5 points per game. In addition, Kayla Cooper-Williams is fourth on JMU's career blocks list with 170 and is sixth from 10^th on the CAA list. She has also been the league's top rebounder throughout the season and is the only player in all of the CAA averaging above 10 rebounds per game (10.2).
 
James Madison is led by head coach Sean O'Regan. In his first season as head coach at JMU, he led the Dukes to a 26-9 season, a fourth consecutive appearance in the CAA title game and a third-round appearance in the WNIT after taking down Radford and Virginia at the Convocation Center. His second season saw a continuation of the success he helped build, as he guided the Dukes to a 23-11 record and a second-straight appearance in the WNIT Third Round. O'Regan has coached on the JMU women's basketball sidelines for 10 seasons, returning to his alma mater for the 2007-08 season as an assistant coach. He continued to ascent the Dukes' coaching ranks, being elevated to associate head coach in 2012.
 
UP NEXT
Hofstra will close out week two of CAA action at Towson on Sunday, January 13 at 2:00 pm.