No. 12 Hofstra Upends No. 5 North Carolina A&T 66-59 in Second Round of CAA Women’s Basketball Championship

No. 12 Hofstra Upends No. 5 North Carolina A&T 66-59 in Second Round of CAA Women’s Basketball Championship

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Hunter Peters

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TOWSON, Md. (March 9, 2023) – Hofstra used red-hot shooting from 3-point range to become the first No. 12 seed since 2006 to reach the quarterfinals of the CAA Women’s Basketball Championship presented by Primis, knocking off No. 5 North Carolina A&T, 66-59 on Thursday afternoon at SECU Arena.
 
The Pride (12-19) advances to play No. 4 William & Mary at 2:30 p.m. on Friday. North Carolina A&T fell to 18-12 after the loss.
Hofstra made 10-of-16 shots from beyond the arc, setting a new season-high for 3-point FG percentage. The 10 treys were the most for the Pride since Dec. 30. Senior guard Sorelle Ineza and graduate guard Brandy Thomas were each 3-for-4 from deep, with Ineza pouring in a team-high 19 points and Thomas tallying 18 points.
 
 
A&T got 15 points and a team-high seven rebounds from Chaniya Clark and 15 points and five boards from Jordyn Dorsey.
 
After trailing by four early, Hofstra closed the first quarter on a 15-2 run. A three-pointer just before the buzzer by Ineza, who tallied a team-high seven points in the period, put the Pride on top, 17-8.
 
A&T was 8-of-11 from the floor in the second quarter and trimmed the deficit to three. However, Thomas went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and combined with Ineza for 18 points in the period to give Hofstra a 37-28 halftime advantage.
 
The Pride maintained its lead throughout the third quarter and extended it to 14 (57-43) on another Ineza trey with 1:19 left.
 
 
The Aggies came storming back in the fourth quarter, outscoring Hofstra 14-2 to start the period and tying the game at 59-59 on Clark’s second-chance putback with 3:45 remaining. The Pride responded with a wing 3-pointer from Emma Von Essen to regain the lead and Thomas followed with a three-point play that made it 65-59 with 1:45 to go.
 
Hofstra shot 46% from the floor for the game and got nearly half (30-of-66) of its beyond on three-pointers. A&T shot 43.8% overall, but went just 1-for-11 from three.
 
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