Fast start, tough finish for Hofstra women

Hofstra dashed headlong into its women's basketball season Friday night, barreling to and fro with its new posthaste offense. But when Hofstra's early three-point accuracy ran and hid, visiting Virginia pulled steadily away to an 82-66 non-conference victory.

It was Hofstra's 14th try against an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent, and its 14th loss.

Freshman Kate Loper - her name the very contrast to her team's style - hit 4 of 8 three-pointers in the first half as Hofstra matched baskets with Virginia's inside power. But from a tie at 47, Hofstra went more than eight minutes without a field goal and Virginia built its largest lead, 73-54 with 4:03 to play.

Loper finished with a game-high 17 points. But four Virginia players scored in double figures and Virginia kept Hofstra's leading scorer from last season, 6-foot sophomore Shante Evans, from having any real impact on the game. Evans grabbed seven rebounds, but shot 3-for-10 from the field and scored only seven points - five of those in the last three minutes.

Virginia pounded Hofstra on the boards, outrebounding the home team, 65-34, leading Hofstra coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey to use the word "soft" to describe her team's performance in that area.

Virginia eventually survived Hofstra's hotfooted pace in the first half and some rugged football-like (pardon the expression, Hofstra) scrums that had players sprawled all over the floor.

Virginia sophomore point guard China Crosby, a native of the Bronx who brought her own little crowd among the 887 in attendance, went down with a knee injury just before the half and didn't return. Crosby, at the time, had played more minutes (18) and scored more points (six) than any of her teammates.

But they carried on well without her. Another key Virginia player, freshman Jazmin Pitts, injured her wrist in the final minutes, but still led all rebounders with 17.

Hofstra, 20-14 last season, enjoyed a pregame unveiling of the banner marking the team's 2010 NIT appearance. The team began the new season with all possible speed, careening up and down the court, following the lead of junior point guard Candice Bellocchio.

Loper hit three three-pointers in the first 10 minutes, and her long-range accuracy was rubbing off on her teammates: Brentwood senior Isoken Uzamere even tried a three-pointer - the first of her career - and swished it shortly before the half.

But Hofstra led only once in the second half, at 45-43. And though the Pride clearly didn't need a shot clock, regularly taking aim in the first 10 seconds of its possessions, it could have used a larger basket in the second half, when it shot only 30.6 percent. That was a number it couldn't run away from.