Dec. 14, 2011

Final Stats

Hackensack, N.J. - Stony Brook University women's basketball team led by three at halftime but Fairleigh Dickinson opened the second half on a 20-4 run and then hung on late for a 51-48 victory over the Seawolves on Wednesday night at the Rothman Center.

"We played well for stretches tonight especially in the first half," Stony Brook head coach Beth O'Boyle said. "But we put ourselves in a big hole to start the second half and just were never able to recover."

Junior Gerda Gatling (Woodbridge, Va.) led Stony Brook with 13 points and 10 rebounds and senior Whitney Davis (Muskegon, Mich.) chipped in with 12 points. Senior Tamiel Murray (Teaneck, N.J.) led SBU with 12 rebounds. Murray played in front of a large group of family and friends who made the short trip from her hometown of Teaneck.

Stony Brook (1-9) trailed by 10 with 7:22 left but Gatling hit one of two free throws with 4:30 left to trim the FDU (4-7) lead to 46-39 and then hit two from the line a minute later to bring the Seawolves within five. But Erika Livermore converted a three-point play on the other end to push its lead back to eight.

Freshman Kellie Krueger (Wilsonville, Ore.) answered on the other end with an inside hoop to make it 49-43 and then knocked down two free throws with 36.6 seconds left to cut the FDU lead to four. But that is as close as the Seawolves would get until junior Sam Landers' (Springfield, Va.) three as time expired.

FDU scored the first six points of the game and led 13-8 midway through the first half. But the Seawolves responded with seven straight points, capped by a three from junior Dani Klupenger (Aurora, Ore.) that gave Stony Brook its first lead of the contest.

The teams exchanged the lead four times before Davis' second three of the game gave Stony Brook a 23-22 advantage with just over two minutes to go. Krueger followed with a put-back hoop with a minute left as SBU took a 25-22 lead into the break.

FDU opened the second half strong, out-scoring the Seawolves 9-0 over the first four minutes of the period to take a 31-25 advantage. Davis scored a fast-break hoop for Stony Brook's first points of the half but FDU scored the next four points to push its lead to eight.

The Knights pushed their lead to 42-29 midway through the half on a three from Danielle Pankey. But Davis snapped the FDU run with two free throws and Landers and Gatling followed with back-to-back hoops to cut the SBU deficit to seven.

It looked as if the Seawolves would get closer as FDU turned the ball over in the backcourt on their ensuing possession. But Mariyah Laury stole the ball right back and then went the length of the floor to complete a three-point play to put FDU back in front by 10 with 7:22 left.

Stony Brook won the battle of the boards 45-41 and forced FDU into 20 turnovers. Laury led all scorers with 20 points.

The Seawolves return to action on Saturday, traveling to take on Seton Hall. Game time is set for 2 p.m.