TOWSON, Md. – After trailing by as many as 16 in the first half, the Hofstra women's basketball team clawed all the way back and took a one-point lead with seven minutes to go, but the Towson Tigers slipped away with a victory 65-60 victory  at SECU Arena on Saturday.
 
Hofstra drops to 4-9 overall and 2-5 in the Colonial Athletic Association while Towson improves to 6-3 overall and 1-1 in the conference.
 
Junior JaKayla Brown led the Pride in scoring for the third-straight contest with 19 points on 50 percent shooting (7-of-14). Redshirt junior Jaylen Hines finished with 16 points and seven rebounds, while junior Jahsyni Knight recorded 11 points (4-of-8 FG) and a career-high eight assists.
 
Junior Jaala Henry was a key player on the boards as well, hauling down 10 rebounds for her second game with at least 10 rebounds this season. Freshman Zyheima Swint was an efficient player as well as she pulled down five rebounds while adding five points off the bench.
 
The first quarter saw Hofstra suffering a 10-0 deficit early, but the Pride managed to bring the contest back within six to trail, 17-11 at the end of the first quarter. Knight hit the first bucket of the second quarter to pull within four before Towson stretched that lead back out to 16 with 3:13 to go in the half. Hofstra closed out the second quarter on a 7-0 run spanning the final 3:01 with field goals by Hines, Brown, Swint and a free throw by Knight to put Hofstra at a nine-point halftime deficit, 31-21.
 
The Pride stood strong in the second half, shooting 48 percent as a team while limiting Towson to just 31 percent. Towson opened up third quarter scoring with a layup, but Hofstra scored eight of the game's next 11 points to put the score at 36-30 in favor of the Tigers. Hofstra went on to score four straight within the final 1:31 with back-to-back baskets by Knight and Hines to cut the Towson lead to three, 43-40, heading into the final frame.

Towson brought it back out to seven points with 8:42 to go, but a 6-0 run by the Pride made it a one-point game, 48-47, before Brown hit a driving layup off of a Towson turnover to give Hofstra its first lead of the game, 51-50. Towson's Kionna Jeter hit a jump shot two Tiger possessions later to re-gain the lead for the remainder of the contest, but Hofstra didn't make it easy for Towson, however, as Henry knocked down a jumper with 27 seconds to go to make it a two-point game and Brown sunk a trey with three seconds to go to get back within three. Towson went on to make its final two free throws to come away with the five-point victory.
 
Towson's Kionna Jeter finished with 24 points to lead all scorers. Aleah Nelson was next with 18 points for the Tigers.
 
The Pride and Tigers are set to face each other again, tomorrow (Sunday, January 24) at SECU Arena. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. The game will be streamed live on @FloHoops and live audio will be available on WRHU (88.7 FM) and WRHU.org.
 
NOTES:
-Towson increases its series lead to 38-35. The Tigers have now won the last six meetings.  
-Towson, who was averaging over 91 points per game heading into today's contest, was limited to only just 65 points.
-Knight's eight assists were the most since Sorelle Ineza had nine vs. Howard on November 13, 2019. It was also the fourth time this season that Knight has had seven or more helpers.
-Brown has reached double figures 10 times out of the last 11 games while Hines has put up 10+ points in nine of the last 10 games.
-Hofstra caused at least 20 turnovers (21) for the eighth time this season.