STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Make it a dozen straight wins for the Stony Brook women's basketball team.

Reigning America East Player of the Week India Pagan scored a team-high 20 points and the Seawolves defeated Vermont, 67-49, on Wednesday night at Island Federal Arena.

Stony Brook improved to 15-1 overall — extending the best start in program history — and now sits atop the conference at 3-0. The 12 straight victories mark the longest winning streak in the program's Division I era.

The Seawolves took the lead for good with a 6-0 run midway through the third quarter. Anastasia Warren broke the 36-all tie with a jumper. Cheyenne Clark followed with a layup off a feed from Kaela Hilaire. And Victoria Johnson capped the spurt with a layup of her own.

Johnson's trey with 7 minutes, 12 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter opened the first double-digit lead and the Seawolves pulled away late.

"It all started on defense," Pagan said. "Our defense was lacking in the first half. That was basically our focus in the locker room — our defense."

Stony Brook had closed the first quarter on a 9-2 run to take a 22-14 lead. However, the Catamounts (6-9, 0-2 AE) used a 12-0 run to take a 30-26 lead midway through the second quarter.

Johnson finished with 12 points.

Pagan's production came on 9-for-12 shooting from the field and despite foul trouble that had limited her to 19 minutes. She had shot 13-for-14 in the previous game against Maine en route to a career-high 26 points.

Stony Brook returns to action Saturday at New Hampshire for its first America East road game of the season.

"We did what we needed to do to this point," coach Caroline McCombs said. "Now we have to go on the road and win those games."