Philadelphia, PA - Junior Sorelle Ineza drained a three-pointer with 1:06 left to break a 43-43 tie as the Hofstra women's basketball team moved on to the Colonial Athletic Association Quarterfinals with a 46-45 win over UNCW on Thursday afternoon in the first round of the CAA Championship at the Daskalakis Athletic Center. Redshirt senior Jaylen Hines was huge all game for Hofstra as she notched a double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Ineza was second on the team with eight points.

Hofstra, the #8 seed in the championship, moves on to face top-seeded and host Drexel on Friday at 12 p.m.

The Pride improved to 8-19 on the year, while UNCW sees its season end with a 3-26 record.

It was all Hofstra to start the game as the Pride scored the game's first 10 points with senior Jahsyni Knight opening up the scoring with a three-pointer and redshirt senior Jaala Henry making it 10-0 with 6:52 left in the opening stanza after a driving layup. The Seahawks were able to close the gap to four late in the quarter before Hines pushed the advantage to six with a basket with 28 seconds left.

The lead would be at eight, 17-9, with 6:20 left before halftime following an old-fashioned three-point play from Hines before UNCW mounted a comeback. The Seahawks used a 12-1 scoring run to take a 21-18 lead with 1:48 left courtesy of a three-pointer from Allie Best. As she would do later in the game, Ineza came up big as she knotted the score at 21 with a three-pointer on the Pride's next possession before senior Rosi Nicholson sent Hofstra into the locker room with the lead with a bucket with under a minute to play.

It was a back-and-forth early stages of the third quarter with UNCW leading 25-24 before Hofstra scored eight straight points to earn a 32-25 advantage with 4:50 left in the quarter. The Pride made their living at the free throw line during the spurt as six of the eight points came from the charity stripe. UNCW battled back, though, and would eventually even the score at 35 as they scored the final five points of the quarter to send the contest into the fourth quarter all square.

UNCW scored the first five points of the fourth quarter, making it a 10-0 run, before a free throw from Hines closed the gap to four, 40-36, with 6:47 showing on the clock. Hines put the team on her back at that point and a personal 6-0 scoring run in total would lift the Pride back in the lead, 41-40, with 4:20 remaining. Hines, who scored eight points in the fourth quarter, made it 43-42 Hofstra before UNCW tied it up at 43 setting up the heroics from Ineza. It wasn't Ineza's first late game heroics of the season as hit a last second jumper in the Pride's 55-53 win over Loyola Maryland on November 20. UNCW did cut the deficit to one with 36 seconds left and would have a shot in the waning seconds but it was off the mark and Hofstra was able to advance to the quarterfinals.

Nicholson finished with six points and three steals for Hofstra, which also got four points, four rebounds, four steals, and three assists from Knight. Henry added nine rebounds and five assists for the Pride.

Best led UNCW with 14 points, while Sierra DaCosta added 11 for the Seahawks.

Friday's quarterfinal game will air on FloHoops and WRHU (88.7 FM).

NOTES
- Hofstra improved to 24-19 all-time against UNCW. The Pride has won five straight in the series with the Seahawks.
- The double-double was the seventh of the season for Hines.
- Henry tied her career-high in assists and fell one rebound shy of tying her career-best in that category.
- With the postseason win, it marks the third time in the last four years that Hofstra has won at least one game in the CAA Championship. The Pride has picked up four victories during that span.