Hempstead, NY – Brandy Thomas hit a three-pointer as time expired to give Hofstra a 58-57 home win over Towson Thursday evening from the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex. Thomas scored Hofstra's final seven points of the game, including the buzzer-beater winner.
 
Thomas finished the night with 14 points on 5-11 shooting from the floor, while she pulled down a game-high nine rebounds and dished out five assists. Sorelle Ineza paced the Pride with 21 points, tying a career-high for the senior guard, and she added six rebounds and a pair of assists in the win. Emma Von Essen scored 12 for the home side, and Zyheima Swint posted eight rebounds and two blocks.
 
Hofstra moves to 9-13 overall and 3-8 in the Colonial Athletic Association with the dramatic win, while Towson falls to 13-9 overall and 7-4 in the CAA. The win snaps a five-game losing streak for the Pride.
 
Von Essen scored the first four points of the contest before Towson scored eight consecutive points to lead, 8-4, at the 4:11 mark of the quarter. Thomas and Swint connected on back-to-back jumpers to tie the score, but Towson's Sky Williams hit a floating jumper for the final points of the first as Towson led, 10-8.
 
Towson upped its lead to five twice inside the first two minutes of the second quarter, but Hofstra responded with a 12-1 run lasting 3:31 to pull ahead by six. A Von Essen jumper started off the big Hofstra run, and baskets by Ineza, Thomas, and Kayled Joseph-Bernard gave Hofstra breathing room midway through the quarter. Towson rattled off an 8-2 run to tie the score with 2:03 left before the half, but Hofstra went back in front courtesy of a Thomas layup a minute later to lead, 28-26, at the break.
 
Leading by three after a two from Quinzia Fulmore, consecutive Ineza buckets and an Ally Knights layup gave Hofstra an eight-point advantage over Towson at the 6:11 mark of the third quarter. The Tigers utilized a 9-1 burst to tie the game at 38-38 before Ineza put Hofstra back in front with another layup. Towson responded on the next possession with a Mariah Wilson layup, putting the score at 40-40 going into the fourth quarter.
 
The Tigers rattled off six unanswered points to lead, 46-40, inside the first two minutes of the fourth quarter. Hofstra cut the deficit to three with a Knights three-pointer, but Towson went back ahead by five twice with an Alexia Nelson layup and a pair of free throws by Kylie Kornegay-Lucas with 3:18 left on the clock. The Tigers' lead grew to as many as six with a Kornegay-Lucas basket and a free throw from India Johnson with 1:43 left, but the Pride refused to go away as Ineza sunk two free throws and Rosi Nicholson scored a second-chance layup to pull to within two with 1:18 remaining.

An Anissa Rivera layup was canceled out by a Thomas fadeaway jumper with 16 seconds left. Following a Towson free throw, Thomas drew a foul and converted a pair from the stripe to pull Hofstra within one. Down by two with no timeouts and six seconds left on the clock following a Nelson free throw, Ineza drove the length of the court and drew a trio of Tiger defenders, leaving Thomas wide open for the game-winner.
 
Kornegay-Lucas led Towson with 13 points, and Rivera and Nelson scored 11 points each.
 
Hofstra returns to conference action on Sunday, Feburary 12, with a rematch against Stony Brook (13-9, 7-4 CAA) in the second Long Island Rivalry contest as conference opponents. Tip-off from Island Federal Arena is scheduled for 1 p.m.
 
NOTES:
-Hofstra moves to 37-41 all-time against Towson, and the Pride snaps a two-game losing streak against the Tigers.
-The last-second win was Hofstra's first since Sorelle Ineza hit a game-winning two against Loyola Maryland on November 20, 2021.
-Hofstra recorded 48 rebounds to Towson's 39.
-Thomas' five assists ties a career-high.
-Hofstra finished with 16 second-chance points off 15 offensive rebounds.