This fall season the Hofstra Women’s Basketball team has dominated with an overall rate of 7 wins and 2 losses. They have managed to gather experience and time as well as have the advantage of being a team that has been together almost the full four years for some players. As the semester wraps up we spoke to Seniors Sydni Epps and Darius Faulk, Junior Kelly Loftus as well as Coach Kilburn-Steveskey to figure out the key to their success and know the team a little more!
WITH A TEAM THAT GETS NEW MEMBERS EVERY YEAR, HOW DO YOU MANAGE TO FIND A BALANCE AND WORK TOGETHER TO WIN GAMES?
Kelly: Trusting each other, building chemistry on and off the court and being a team player
Sydni: For the most part we help them in practice and incorporate them into the mix and teach what’s been done to get Kayla ready, we only had one new member so it was a little easier. In my freshman year there were five new members so it was a bit tougher for the older members.
AND WITH THAT, HOW DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE DONE SO FAR THIS SEASON WITH GETTING HER ORIENTED?
Kelly: We try to pick up her confidence, get her involved, and be good teammates. We know it’s hard to transition from high school to college.
Darius: Pretty good, we only have one freshman to worry about
Sydni:
I think she’s coming into her own and helping us out a lot. Right now we have one of our main players down, Anje White, so when coach gives her minutes in the game you can see she’s been making a consistent effort.
HOW DID YOU START PLAYING BASKETBALL?
Kelly: My dad was a big basketball fan. I started playing at 6 and around 8th grade got better, I just loved it!
Darius: Grew up around it.
Sydni: I started playing at 6. I have three older brothers and watched them play in the backyard and wanted to get into the game. Started in 3rd grade in a league and was horrible and both my parents had no idea about sports. As I got better my mom found me a league and eventually got into travel basketball.
WHAT MADE YOU GET SERIOUS ABOUT IT WHEN YOU GOT OLDER?
Kelly: As I got better I started travelling and started playing on different teams. I started getting college offers in 8th grade! Thought it was something I could do and go to college for free doing something I love.
Darius: I started realizing I was actually good at it
WHY HOFSTRA?
Kelly: I got recruited by a lot of schools and Coach Kelly was consistent about recruiting, she was at all of my games even if they were really far away which showed me that she really wanted me on the team. I wanted a coach that showed she cared. Also at the time I was in love with shopping, I like NYC and can’t be in the middle of nowhere.
Darius: It’s close to home and I enjoy playing in front of my family.
Sydni: The coaches heavily recruited since a freshman in high school, which made the transition easy because I knew the coaches and the team felt like a family when I visited. As a business marketing major at the Zarb business school, which is a top school in the country, that was a big deal. Along with the CAA conference.
BEFORE GAMES YOU ALL ARE INTRODUCED WITH SOME PRETTY COOL NICKNAMES… WHAT ARE YOURS AND HOW DID YOU GET THEM?
Kelly: Lost Eye, after my last name Loftus and around my sophomore or freshman year I got pink eye and it stuck around for two weeks in both eyes.
Darius: D-Faulks, just a shortening of my name.
Sydni: My nickname is Syd the Kid, idk why but that’s always been the nickname. Coach K always seems to shorten my name to Sydi when she’s rushing or thinking of something else so my teammates kinda picked that up too.
AS A TEAM, WHAT’S ONE MOMENT YOU’D LIKE TO RE-LIVE?
All: The CAA championship game in 2014.
Sydni: We lost by 6 points and if I got the moment to go back I’d want to see what we could change or do differently based on that knowledge.
FAVORITE HOBBY OUTSIDE OF BASKETBALL?
Kelly: Just to have fun. When theres time, shop or go to the beach.
Darius: Shopping haha
Sydni: We play all the time; I don’t really have one. I guess having a moment to relax, watching movies and team bonding.
LIGHTNING ROUND:
WHO’S THE CLASS CLOWN OR JOKER?
Kelly and Sydni: Darius Faulk
Darius: Jakelle King-Gilchrist
WHO’S THE MOM OF THE GROUP?
All: Dee Thomas-Palmer
WHO’S THE SMART ONE?
Kelly: Sandra Dongmo and Sydni Epps
Darius: Syd Epps
Sydni: Sandra Dongmo and Olivia Askin
WHO’S ALWAYS LATE?
Kelly and Sydni: Anjie White and Nae Durant
WHO CARES THE MOST ABOUT HER LOOKS?
Kelly: Hmmm, idk, a lot of us do, we all wear makeup and stuff, probably Dee or me or Sydni.
Darius: Dee Thomas-Palmer
Sydni: Kelly Loftus
Coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey
WHAT ARE THE STRENGTHS IN THIS SEASON?
We have depth in the guard position and team chemistry.
WHAT DO YOU THINK THE DIFFERENCES ARE BETWEEN THIS SEASON AND LAST SEASON?
The chemistry, people are genuinely happy for everyone’s success, they’re competitive when they want to do their but at the end of the day they’re not self-motivated. Some of our players contribute with a lot of experience, Kelly Loftus and Krystal Luciano have been starting since freshman year, and so we have kids who’ve been playing for four years.
HOW DO YOU THINK THE NEW FRESHMEN PLAYERS ARE HELPING?
Kayla has gotten along really well; she’s intelligent, polite, fun to be around on and off the court.
WHAT’S ONE MOMENT WITH THE TEAM YOU’D LIKE TO RE-LIVE?
The CAA Champs from last year, we did everything in our power to win, if everyone had more experience we were so close to only have lost by 6. They just need to have got through the slight fear from the new experience.
HOW DO YOU THINK YOUR SENIOR PLAYERS WILL TRANSITION INTO THE REAL WORLD?
In Sydni and Dee you’ve got two massive leaders and young ladies that have gotten a lot of experience from playing the sport for four years as well as time spent with the career center. Sydney is a staff representative and on the national committee. They have maturity, toughness, and are a strong group so they are going do extremely well wherever they land their two feet!
Don’t forget to keep up with this team because after this interview, it is clear that they are once again going for that CAA Championship and have the strategy to win! You can find their upcoming schedule here and even if you can’t make it, stream it live!