Newark, DE – The Hofstra women's basketball team fended off a tough Delaware team down the stretch, but the Pride secured the 63-57 road win over the Fightin' Blue Hens from inside the Bob Carpenter Center in early-season Coastal Athletic Association action.
 
Hofstra improves to 7-6 overall and 2-0 in the CAA for the first time since the 2014-15 season, and Delaware is now 3-9 overall and 0-2 in league play. The Pride's win snapped a 17-game losing streak against the Fightin' Blue Hens.
 
Chloe Sterling paced the Pride with 18 points in the win while pulling down six rebounds and dishing out four assists, while Emma Von Essen finished with 13 points, and LaNae' Corbett scored 10 points and recorded eight rebounds. Ramatoulaye Keita pulled down a team-leading 10 boards against Delaware to go with her eight points.
 
The teams were back-and-forth for much of the first quarter, with the score being tied twice and neither side able to generate a lead any larger than four points. With the score tied at 10-10 after a Delaware jumper at 2:29, Hofstra rattled off six unanswered points to end the quarter with a 16-10 lead. Corbett was responsible for four of those six points, with Von Essen contributing the remaining two.
 
Hofstra's lead grew to five early in the second quarter on a long jumper by Sterling, but Delaware responded with eight unanswered points while keeping the Pride scoreless for over three minutes to take a five-point lead with 4:46 left before halftime. Sterling ended Hofstra's scoring drought at the 4:00 mark with a pair of successful free throws and Keita scored on a jumper at 3:12, but Delaware ended the quarter on a 7-2 run to lead, 32-24, heading into halftime.
 
Sterling scored the first four points of the quarter on a layup at 9:36 and a steal-and-score on the very next possession, cutting Delaware's lead to four points, and a pair of Larsson free throws made it a two-point game with 8:35 remaining. Delaware rebuilt its five-point lead with a two at 8:17 and a three at 7:28, but a tough layup by Zyheima Swint and a three-ball by Von Essen evened the score for the first time sine 7:23 of the second quarter. After Delaware retook the lead on two free throws at 5:48, a Keita layup sparked a 7-0 run for the Pride to lead by five, with two shots from the charity stripe by Sterling and a wide-open three from Micaela Carter at the 4:03 mark. Hofstra would go into the fourth quarter leading by four on a Swint free throw after Delaware hit two from the charity stripe.
 
The hosts rattled off the first five points of the fourth quarter to take a one-point lead before Hofstra retook the lead on a Sterling layup at 8:10. The lead would change another three times over the next 2:13 before Von Essen gave Hofstra the lead for good with a three-pointer at the 5:27 mark. A spinning layup by Corbett at 2:34 and another trey by Von Essen at 2:01 gave Hofstra a seven-point lead, its largest lead of the afternoon. Delaware brought the lead down to four twice inside the final minute, but Hofstra withstood the late rally to escape with a conference win.
 
Andre'a Cherisier led all player with 19 points, and Chloe Wilson pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds.
 
Hofstra returns to the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex for its first home conference games of the season, beginning with a January 10 matchup against league-leading Charleston at 6 p.m. For ticket information, visit HofstraTickets.com, call (516) HOF-TIXX, or visit the Hofstra Athletics Ticket Office in the Mack Sports Complex lobby during normal business hours.
 
NOTES:
-Hofstra improves to 13-71 all-time against Delaware. Today was Hofstra's first win against Delaware since January 3, 2016, and the first Hofstra win at Delaware since January 8, 2009.
-Sterling went 10-10 from the free throw stripe. She is the first Hofstra student-athlete to hit 10 or more free throws in a game since Jaylen Hines connected on 11 free throws versus Howard on December 4, 2021.
-Hofstra outshot Delaware, 33.3% (21-63) to 32.7% (17-52). The Pride shot 42.3% (11-26) from the floor in the second half to Delaware's 26.1% (6-23)
-This was Keita's fifth game of the season with at least 10 rebounds.