Hempstead, NY - A late surge of scoring by Hofstra in the fourth quarter, capped off with a big three-pointer from Brandy Thomas with 1:04 left on the clock, led the Hofstra women's basketball team to a 56-53 win over Army West Point from inside the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex. Wednesday night's win puts Hofstra at 4-4 on the season, and gives the Pride its best home record to open the season since 2016-17. Army West Point drops to 2-6 following tonight's loss.
 
Thomas scored 17 points to lead the Pride in the victory, with eight of those points coming in the fourth quarter. Sorelle Ineza posted 12 points, while Zyheima Swint pulled down a team-leading six rebounds - all offensive - and Ally Knights dished out three assists. Emma Von Essen and Rosi Nicholson recorded three steals each against the Black Knights.
 
Hofstra trailed the Black Knights, 16-12, at the end of the first quarter. Army West Point scored the first five points of the quarter and led by as many as nine, 16-7, with 2:24 on the clock following Reese Ericson's three-pointer. Hofstra scored the final five points of the quarter to cut the deficit to four at the end of the opening 10 minutes. Von Essen hit a three-pointer at the horn to cap the first quarter scoring.
 
Hofstra came out strong in the second quarter and took a 17-16 lead on Ineza's three-pointer with 9:06. The teams managed just four points over the next nearly five minutes with Hofstra holding a 19-18 lead with 4:17 to play. The teams would trade the lead seven times with Army West Point scoring the final four points of the quarter to take a 28-25 lead at the half. 
 
The Black Knights led by four at the end of three quarters, 41-37. After Swint cut the Pride deficit to two, 32-30, with 6:38 to play, Army West Point extended the lead back to seven with five unanswered points. The Pride would trail by six before Ineza hit a pair of free throws with one second on the clock to close out the scoring in the quarter. 
 
Army West Point upped its lead to nine points over the Pride at 5:45 of the fourth quarter off a layup to cap a 7-2 run for the Black Knights. A Swint free throw at 4:22 and a steal-and-score from Nicholson at 3:55 jump-started a 12-0 Hofstra run to pull ahead of Army West Point for only the third time in the game. Von Essen sunk a three-pointer at 2:17 to cut the deficit to three, and Thomas hit a wide-open jumper to make it a one-point game with 1:52 to go. With just over a minute left in the game, Thomas drilled a three from the top of the arc to complete the comeback. Thomas and Knights added to Hofstra's slim lead with three free throws, and three-point attempt from Kamryn Hall rimmed out as the clock expired, giving Hofstra its fourth home win of the season.
 
Sabria Hunter led all players with 16 rebounds while scoring 10 points for the Black Knights, and Hall topped the scoreline with 16 points in the loss.
 
Hofstra looks to keep the wins coming with a road game against Loyola Maryland on Saturday, December 10. Tip-off against the Greyhounds is scheduled for 2 p.m.
 
NOTES:
-Hofstra improves its all-time record against Army West Point to 6-5.
-Army West Point narrowly outshot Hofstra, 35.4% to 32.8%, but Hofstra shot 36.8% from three-point range while limiting Army West Point to 28.6% from beyond the arc.
-Hofstra forced nine of Army West Point's 21 turnovers while committing a season-low 11 turnovers.
-Hofstra moves to 3-2 against in-state opponents.