Washington, DC – The Hofstra women's basketball team withstood a late William & Mary surge in the final minutes of the fourth quarter to move the #13 seed Pride into the Quarterfinals of the 2024 CAA Women's Basketball Championship, as the Pride defeated the five-seed Tribe 57-53 in the second round from the Entertainment & Sports Arena.
 
Hofstra becomes the highest-seeded team to advance to the quarterfinals of the CAA Championship in conference history, and the Pride moves on to the third day of the CAA Championship for the third consecutive season. Hofstra will take on four-seed North Carolina A&T in the quarterfinals on Friday at 2:30 p.m.
 
Hofstra improves to 11-20 on the year with the win, and William & Mary finishes its 2023-24 season at 15-14.
 
Zyheima Swint and Brooke Anya both finished with double-doubles, with Swint recording 11 points and 14 rebounds, and Anya tallying 11 points and 11 rebounds. Sorelle Ineza and Ally Knights also finished in double figures with 10 points apiece. Swint also tied a career-high with four blocks, and Anya led the team with three steals.
 
Hofstra came out of the gates firing against the Tribe, opening the quarter with a 14-4 run before the media timeout at 5:44. The Tribe cut Hofstra's lead to single-digits twice after the media timeout, but the Pride's lead went back to 10 or higher twice; Janaia Fargo knocked down a three at 2:23 after Bella Nascimento got the deficit to eight, and Alarice Gooden sunk a three-pointer to beat the buzzer after a 4-0 William & Mary run, giving the Pride a 10-point lead after one quarter.
 
Hofstra's hot shooting continued into the second quarter as the Pride rattled off and 8-0 run to extend its lead to 16 for its largest lead of the contest. After the Tribe went on a 4-1 run to cut into the lead, Ally Knights knocked down her second three of the afternoon to reset Hofstra's advantage to 16 points with 3:35 on the clock. William & Mary ended the second quarter with a 9-1 spurt to make it an eight-point game at halftime.
 
The momentum turned to William & Mary coming out of the break, with the Tribe scoring seven of the first 11 points in the third quarter to cut Hofstra's lead to two, and they tied the game on a Anahi-Lee Cauley fadeaway jumper at the four-minute mark. The Pride rallied to end the fourth quarter with four unanswered points by Anya to put the score at 41-37 in favor of Hofstra after three quarters.
 
William & Mary scored six straight points to start the fourth quarter, clawing back to within two of the Pride before Swint converted a layup and free throw to set the difference back to five with 7:58 left in regulation. The Tribe refused to go away, scoring five points at the free throw line to tie the game before the media timeout at 6:02. An Anya free throw and a layup at the shot clock buzzer by Knights gave Hofstra a three-point lead with 4:42, but a 7-3 William & Mary run gave the Tribe its first lead of the game with 3:05 left on the clock. On the very next possession, Gooden drove inside and knocked down a step-back jumper to retake the lead for the Pride.
 
Ineza was fouled at the 1:02 mark and sunk both her free throws to give the Pride the lead, and the Hofstra defense stepped up with a pair of stops inside the final minute, including a steal by Knights with 20.6 seconds left in the game. The Tribe would have one more chance to tie the game, but Swint delivered a massive block on a three-point attempt with 10 seconds left, allowing Anya to come down with the loose ball. Anya made it a four-point difference with a free throw at the other end to seal the upset win.
 
Nylah Young led all players with 22 points, and she pulled down 10 rebounds for the Tribe.
 
Friday's contest will be streamed on FloHoops, and WRHU 88.7FM will have an audio-only broadcast.
 
NOTES:
-Hofstra improves to 31-21-1 all-time against William & Mary. The Pride snapped a five-game losing streak to the Tribe.
-Hofstra outshot William & Mary, 43.2%-31.6%
-Swint recorded back-to-back double-doubles for the second time this season.
-Knights scored 10 points in a game for the first time this season.