The Hofstra University women’s basketball team (2-1) downed visiting Fordham University (1-2) by a final score of  77-64 to get the ladies their first Home Victory on Friday night at the Mack Sports Complex.

Hofstra Huddle. Photo by: Stacy Podelski/1495 Sports

Anma Onyeuku (Fayetteville, GA) led the Pride with a career-high 23 points while Andreana Thomas (West Haven, CT)  added 21. Ruth Sherrill (Alexandria, VA)  led Hofstra with 13 rebounds, nine of them offensive.

“It was a great team effort against a very talented team that played in the finals of the Atlantic 10 last year, so we were very proud of the effort tonight,” Coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey remarked after the game.

The Pride took the lead for good with 14:10 left in the first half and never looked back. An 11-2 run by the Pride made it 21-11 and after that, Hofstra was rarely threatened. The score at the half was 34-26 Pride.

The key for Hofstra in the first half was controlling the boards. The Pride outrebounded the Rams 24-15 including a 12-6 advantage in offensive rebounds. Hofstra mixed in some full-court press early and also had an 8-2 advantage in fast break points which was part of their strategy.

“We wanted to get them out of their comfort zone,” Kilburn-Steveskey said. “They’re a pretty disciplined team that likes to run a lot of sets, they don’t like to play fast. We wanted to play fast but think slow at the same time which is sometimes hard, but we did a great job.”

The Pride didn’t let down in the second half despite taking an eight-point lead into the break. In fact, the Rams never got closer than six points at any time during the second half.

Defensively, Hofstra held Fordham to just 32 percent shooting from the field in the first half and 40 percent overall for the game. The Pride also forced 14 steals, seven of them by Onyeuku.

Erin Rooney scored 23 points for Fordham and also led the Rams with nine rebounds.

The Pride returns to action Wednesday night when they travel to Evanston, Illinois to face Northwestern. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 PM.