Shante Evans helps Hofstra hold off Marist, 71-69

This was not an easy game for Hofstra women’s basketball coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey, especially after seeing her team squander a 13-point second-half lead and apparently give up the tying basket at the buzzer.

But a big game by Shante Evans (29 points, 18 rebounds) and the benefit of instant replay helped Hofstra hold off Marist, 71-69, in the Holiday Invitational championship game at Mack Sports Complex Thursday.

After Casey Dulin’s layup gave Marist a 66-64 lead, Evans scored Hofstra’s final seven points, including a three-point play with 12 seconds remaining that gave the Pride a 71-68 lead.

Marist’s Leanne Ockenden was fouled with four seconds left and made the first free throw. She missed the second and Evans got the rebound, but she was called for traveling, giving Marist one final chance.

Corielle Yarde missed a jumper but Dulin got the rebound and scored as time expired. The basket, which would’ve forced overtime, was ruled good on the court by the officials but was waved off after a video review.

“That part was crazy,” said Kilburn-Steveskey, whose team went ahead 49-36 with 15:56 left on Katelyn Loper’s three-pointer. “We played smart all game long. We know how to execute down the stretch and we just proved it tonight."

After the review, the overturned call and a brief discussion among the officials, they motioned for Marist coach Brian Giorgis to come to the monitor (he never actually made it that far). That irked Kilburn-Steveskey, who said she hadn’t seen that in 20 years of coaching.

Here are her quotes: “It just was strange, because they were letting the coach walk up to the monitor and I’ve never seen that in 20 years of coaching, then talk to us and make us come up. It was a very odd thing for me to look at from the bench when someone walks up to take a look. It was very interesting. I would like to find that out.

“I did lose it for a second,’’ she said. “Because obviously [he] is a very well-respected coach, a very good coach. But a call was made, a decision was made. If you need to talk about it, you need to take us over here to talk. You don’t let"— she cut herself off mid-sentence — “unless both go look at something."

Evans was named tournament MVP after totaling 41 points and 30 rebounds in two games. “In this game I could not get a foul call at all,” said Evans, who had 13 offensive rebounds but took only five free throws. “So any time the ball fell in my hands, I kept going up until hopefully they’d give me a call. But you know I had fun today.”

Candace Bond had 15 points, 14 rebounds and four steals and Loper added 14 points for Hofstra (9-2). Dulin and Yarde had 14 points each for Marist (5-5).