Staten Island, NY - In a tight, back-and-forth contest from the opening whistle, the Hofstra women's basketball team dropped a 76-68 contest to Wagner on a Saturday afternoon from the Spiros Sports Complex. Hofstra falls to 2-3 with today's defeat, and Wagner moves to 3-3 on the season.

Three Hofstra players finished in double-figures against the Seahawks. Graduate student Brandy Thomas paced the Pride with 22 points, scoring 14 in an intense third quarter, while junior Zyheima Swint set a new personal-best with 17 points against the Seahawks, and graduate student Rosi Nicholson posted 11 points. Thomas pulled down 10 rebounds for her second double-double of the season, and Thomas and junior Ally Knights assisted on three baskets each.

The Seahawks raced out to a 13-4 lead four minutes into the start of the game before baskets from Thomas, Nicholson, and sophomore Zaniyyah Ross-Barnes cut the Wagner lead to five with 3:28 in the quarter. After a Wagner three put the hosts back in front by eight, Hofstra scored nine straight baskets to end the quarter leading 19-18. Four points from Swint, three by Nicholson, and two by freshman Emma Von Essen put the Pride up by one at the buzzer.

Von Essen and Swint two-pointers put the Pride ahead by five within the first minute of the second quarter. The Seahawks rallied to score seven straight to pull ahead by three at 7:38 of the frame before a Swint bucket cut the lead to just one for the hosts. After a scoreless period for both teams, Wagner jumped ahead by five twice down the stretch, but Hofstra rallied to tie the score at 32-32 thanks to a Knights three and a contested layup from Swint with under two minutes to go. Wagner converted a layup and free throw inside the final 50 seconds to lead, 35-32, at halftime.

Thomas' electric start to the third quarter, which saw the graduate student guard hit the first three Hofstra baskets of the third quarter, gave the Pride a three-point lead over the Seahawks. Thomas' hot shooting continued as she scored six of the next seven Hofstra points to put the visitors in front by nine at the third quarter media timeout. A pair of free throws from Thomas and a layup by senior Sorelle Ineza gave Hofstra an 11-point lead over the Seahawks – the biggest lead for either team in the contest – with 3:35 to go in the quarter. Wagner rallied to cut the Hofstra lead to five points entering the fourth quarter.

Hofstra led by as many as five points at three points during the fourth quarter, twice on the heels of Nicholson buckets and once after a driving layup from Knights, but Wagner hung tough with the Pride and eventually took the lead with 11 unanswered points off of three three-pointers and a tying layup to go ahead for good. Wagner built its lead to as big as 10 points before Hofstra pulled to within eight late in the game, but the buzzer sounded on Hofstra's comeback attempt.

Alex Cowan led all players with 25 points for the Seahawks, and Lina Loceniece posted 12 points in the win.

Hofstra returns to action on Wednesday, November 30, for a midweek contest on the road against Iona. Tip-off from New Rochelle, New York is set for 7 p.m.

NOTES:
-The 14 points scored by Brandy Thomas in the third quarter were the most by a Hofstra women's basketball player in a single quarter this season.
-Hofstra is now 9-13 all-time against Wagner. This was the first game between Hofstra and Wagner since December 29, 2002.
-Hofstra narrowly outshot Wagner, 48.1 percent (26-54) to 47.3 percent (26-55) from the floor, but Wagner shot 47.4 percent (9-19) from three-point range to Hofstra's 16.7 percent (2-12).
-The Pride scored 36 points in the paint to Wagner's 24.