Boston, MA – The Hofstra women's basketball team used a terrific defensive showing to hold off a feisty Northeastern side late to come out on top 62-47 over the host Huskies in the final game of the 2025-26 regular season.
 
Hofstra ends the regular season 8-21 overall and 6-12 in CAA action, and Northeastern drops to 7-21 overall and 3-15 in conference play.
 
Alarice Gooden and Chloe Sterling paced the Pride with 11 points each, while Nevaeh Brown scored 10 points off the bench for Hofstra. Gooden, Sterling, Sandra Magolico, and Emma Von Essen all pulled down four rebounds to lead the team in the win, and Sana'a Garrett dished out a season-high five assists against the Huskies.
 
After a scoreless opening two minutes for both sides, Gooden converted a layup at the 7:17 mark to give the Pride an early lead before Northeastern scored the next four points to go up by two. Brown knocked down the first of her two threes in the game to give Hofstra a short-lived one-point lead at 5:36 before Northeastern responded with their own three on the next possession. Magolico scored four points on back-to-back Hofstra possessions to give the guests a 9-7 lead with 4:29 left in the quarter, but a three by Yirsy Quéliz began a 7-0 run to end the quarter and give the Huskies a 14-9 lead.
 
Gooden sunk threes on consecutive possessions inside the first minute of the second quarter to put the Pride back ahead by one. The lead changed hands another four times during the midpoint of the quarter before the score stood at 19-19 after a Northeastern free throw following the media timeout. A fadeaway jumper by Sterling with 4:00 left before halftime gave the Pride the lead for good and sparked a 7-0 run to take an eight-point lead, and an Ayen Angoi layup with seven seconds left before the buzzer canceled out a pair of Northeastern free throws to put the score at 29-21 in favor of Hofstra at the break.
 
Ema Karim upped Hofstra's lead into double-digits on the first basket of the third quarter, and the Pride lead grew to as large as 14 points after a two by Brown, an Emma Von Essen three, and a free throw by Angoi, as the Pride held Northeastern scoreless for four-and-a-half minutes until Maya Summerville ended the scoring drought with a two at the 3:41 mark. Hofstra scored five unanswered to put the difference at 17 before Northeastern scored the next four points, but a close-range jumper by Brown and a three by Micaela Carter inside the final 47 seconds put the Hofstra lead at 18 points going into the fourth quarter.
 
Hofstra's lead ballooned to 23 points thanks to a 2-2 trip to the free throw line by Sterling and another Carter three inside the first minute and change of the fourth quarter, but Northeastern ramped up the defensive pressure on the Pride with five forced turnovers and a rallied for a 10-0 run in 1:17 to trail by 13. Magolico ended the drought with a layup at 6:13 to put the difference at 15 before jumpers on consecutive possessions made this an 11-point game with 5:24 left in regulation. The Pride retook momentum with a Karim three at 5:11, and Hofstra held onto the lead before a Karim trey with 1:53 left in the game put the exclamation point on the conference win.
 
Justice Tramble was the leading scorer for the Huskies with 15 points, followed by nine points from Nariyah Simmons.
 
With the regular season now concluded, Hofstra turns its attention to the 2026 Credit Union 1 CAA Women's Basketball Championship down in Washington, D.C. As the #10-seed in the 13-team tournament, the Pride will face the #7-seed on Thursday, March 12, at 6 p.m.
 
NOTES:
-Hofstra is now 28-31 all-time against Northeastern. Saturday's win snaps a five-game losing streak inside the Cabot Center.
-Hofstra connected on a season-high 11 threes against the Huskies.
-Hofstra forced Northeastern into 20 turnovers. It marks the fifth time this season and fourth time during CAA competition an opponent committed at least 20 turnovers against the Pride.
-Northeaster's 15 field goals are tied with UNCW (Feb. 22) for the fewest allowed by the Pride to a Division I opponent this season.