STONY BROOK, N.Y. — The Stony Brook women's basketball team will enter America East play on a nine-game winning streak. It took a pair of extra sessions to get there.

Playing at home for the first time in nearly four weeks, the Seawolves defeated Bucknell, 78-73, in double-overtime on Sunday afternoon at Island Federal Arena.

Stony Brook completed its nonconference slate with a 12-1 record — the lone loss coming on Nov. 17 at Arkansas, which currently is ranked 20th in the nation.

The start is the best in the program's Division I era.

Bucknell, which overcame 22-10 and 40-30 deficits, forced OT on a driving layup from Taylor O'Brien with 37 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. 

Stony Brook wanted a foul call on Victoria Johnson's ensuing driving layup with six seconds remaining and the score deadlocked at 59, but no whistle was forthcoming and the teams headed to the first extra session.

The Bison (7-4) then sent the game to double-overtime when Abby Kapp kissed a desperation, off-balance three-pointer off the glass narrowly before the buzzer sounded.

Stony Brook led throughout the second OT, albeit narrowly. Cheyenne Clark's steal and layup, which provided a 77-73 lead with 10.7 seconds remaining, secured the victory.  Clark also contributed a game-high 16 rebounds.

"She just wanted that game so badly with all of the loose balls and the rebounds and the tips she gets," coach Caroline McCombs said.

Said Clark: "Our big emphasis was on defense."

India Pagan produced a career-high 25 points in the victory. Johnson followed with 14 points, while Anastasia Warren had 13.

Freshman Gigi Gonzalez made her first career start as the Seawolves played without mending point guard Kaela Hilaire. Hilaire had departed due to injury three minutes into the previous game, last Sunday against Western Michigan.

Stony Brook last had played at home on Dec. 3 against Molloy. The Seawolves since had produced victories at Pittsburgh and Wagner and in San Juan against Morgan State and Western Michigan to increase their winning streak to nine games heading into Thursday's conference opener against UMBC at Island Federal Arena.

"It's a tremendous lift," Clark said about Sunday's win. "We just want to show teams we're going to fight, we're not going to back down, and we're going to give you everything that we have coming into our house."

Said McCombs: "What I like most about this group is that we've continued to grow as a program, and the players individually have each gotten better. That's what you see today when we win a game like that against a great Bucknell team without our starting point guard. It was an amazing game. We were tough. We were gritty."

JOIN THE STONY BROOK WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM FOR ITS AMERICA EAST OPENER ON THURSDAY AT 6:31 P.M. AGAINST UMBC. CLICK HERE FOR TICKET INFO.