HEMPSTEAD,NY— It didn’t matter if the shots came from beyond the three-point line or from inside the paint. Most of the attempts the Hofstra women’s basketball team put up last night glanced off the rim, resulting in a season-low 31.6 shooting percentage against local rival Stony Brook.

Starting center Jess Fuller, the Pride’s second-leading scorer, could only watch from the bench. The junior is expected to be out 6-8 weeks with a lower right leg injury. Hofstra couldn’t find any answers to compensate, losing to the Seawolves, 64-48, at the Mack Sports Complex.

Both teams combined for 57 turnovers, contributing to the choppy pace as the Pride lost its third straight game and fell to 2-4 overall. Junior Kristina Campbellstarted at center in place of Fuller, who was averaging 11.2 points per game.

Campbell finished with zero points in 19 minutes. The other four starters also struggledto generate much offense, as leading scorer Sam Brigham shot 3-13 from the field and Niki Williams was 3-10. Point guard Natty Fripp was cold from the three-point line, with the team failing to crack the 30 percent mark until just over six minutes remained.

“I need a little bit more from my upperclassmen,” Hofstra coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey said.“Some of them have a new role, but we don’t need excuses.

“We werejust throwing shots up. We settled down a little bit in the second half. We’re a young team; a little bit up-and-down. We don’t quite understand the ebb and flow and were just jacking up some shots.”

Stony Brook dominated from the start, building a 21-point halftime lead. Freshman Kirsten Jeter led the attack with 16 points, aided by Dana Ferraro’s 15-point effort as the Seawolves improved to 2-3.

Hofstra generated plenty of chances to initiate fast breaks and transition baskets with 20 steals. But the Pride turned the ball over a season-high 28 times and couldn’t penetrate when they did hold on to the ball. The Pride took just 10 foul shots, compared to 19 three-point attempts.

“We were running the whole first half to penetrate because they put in a big lineup,” Kilburn-Steveskey said. “We were jacking threes instead of penetrating. We were actually tryingto do that. We’re not making very good decisions.”

The loss followed a defeat at home against Long Island University. The Pride shot under40 percent from the field for the third time this season, a trend that needs tobe curtailed before the start of conference play. A road game against Drexel on Jan. 6 opens play against Colonial Athletic Association.

Against Stony Brook, Hofstra committed nearly three times as many turnovers as field goals (17-6) in the first half. Ashley Wilcots provided the lone bright spot,as the freshman played 12 minutes and could see plenty of action with Fullerout for possibly the next two months. Both Wilcots and Campbell could receive more time in the frontcourt the next game this Sunday at Hartford.

“If we’regoing to get nailed, my kids need to be learning,” Kilburn-Steveskey said.”Ashley’s made a big turnaround in practice. My thing is: if you can prove[yourself] and get better, you’re going to get an opportunity. She did a pretty good job.”

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