STONY BROOK, N.Y. – It was a night to remember at Island Federal Arena. The Stony Brook University women's basketball team (1-0) opened up the 2021-22 season with a bang as it defeated Delaware State (0-1), 87-46, on opening night. Head coach
Ashley Langford earned her first career in win her first game leading the Seawolves.
Stony Brook received a balanced scoring attack as it had five student-athletes finish in double-figures. Graduate forward
India Pagan led all scorers with a game-high 18 points, senior guard
Earlette Scott finished with 13 points, junior guard
Gigi Gonzalez and graduate forward
Leighah-Amori Wool totaled 12 points apiece, while sophomore forward
Kelis Corley chipped in with 11 points.
After the game was tied briefly at 9-9 with 6:09 to play in the first quarter, the Seawolves took control and never looked back as they led the rest of the way. Stony Brook closed the first quarter on a 20-3 run and led 29-12 at the completion of the frame. The Seawolves carried the momentum into the second quarter as their led grew to 27 and were ahead, 51-24, following the first half.
Stony Brook continued to roll in the second half as it controlled both ends of the floor. The Seawolves' lead grew to as large as 45 points as it went on to win by the final score of 87-46.
STATS AND NOTES
- As a team, Stony Brook combined to dish out 25 assists and only turned the ball over 10 times over the course of the game. The 25 assists were the most in a game for the Seawolves since they also handed out 25 helpers on January 12, 2019, against New Hampshire.
- Pagan led all scorers with a game-high 18 points and a game-high tying eight rebounds. The graduate shot 9-of-13 from the field and scored 10 or her points in the second half of play.
- Gonzalez had a career night for the Seawolves. The guard finished with a career-high 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting, which included going 2-of-5 from three-point range. She dished out a career-high seven assists as she paced the Seawolves' offense running the point.
- Senior guard Anastasia Warren filled the stat sheet for the Seawolves. Warren finished the season opener with six points, nine assists, eight rebounds, and seven steals in 33 minutes of action. Her nine assists and seven steals were both career-highs for the guard.
- Scott was nearly perfect from the field as she shot 6-of-7 from the floor and accounted for 12 points.
- Corley provided a spark for the Seawolves off the bench with 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field, which included going 3-of-5 from three. Corley set career-highs in points, rebounds, assists, field goals made/attempted, threes made/attempted in the win.
- Wool Scored 12 points on an efficient 5-of-7 from the field and went 2-of-3 from behind the arc.
- Junior guard Veronica Charles made her debut for Stony Brook and recorded five points, six rebounds, and two assists in 16 minutes of play off the bench. Charles led the team with five offensive rebounds.
- Freshmen Jamiah Richardson, forward Zaniyyah Ross-Barnes, and Elizabeth Field all made their collegiate debuts.
- Stony Brook scored 21 points off turnovers, a staggering 46 points in the paint, 23 points off fast breaks, and 26 points off the bench.
- As a team, the Seawolves shot 52.2 percent from the field and 56.3 percent from three-point range.
QUOTES FROM THE SEAWOLVES
"Today was fun, I hope it was fun for them, it was fun for me watching them have success and really enjoying the moment. We work really hard as a staff and as a team, they work extremely hard every day. To finally be able to play and have the success and to be making threes and running in transition making layups, just to see it all come together. I was really pleased on the offensive end and defensively that's what we pride ourselves on and we got after it; from the beginning we really set the tone defensively. I think our team did a really good job today of staying focused defensively even once we did get a lead and that's hard to do. I am really proud of them and the steps that we're taking forward and building," said coach Langford.
"It felt absolutely awesome (to play in front of the fans). I actually got emotional seeing the fans. We missed it all last year. It really was not the same last year with COVID, not having fans was really heartbreaking. I'm happy I came back for another year to experience the fans all over again. I feel like we had a really good crowd today. It was probably one of the best crowds, hopefully they can keep coming back," said Pagan.
"I felt a major 180 coming on and being in a bigger role and giving my team more," said Gonzalez as she discussed her performance. "It felt good seeing everyone out there coming to support us."
NEXT UP
Stony Brook hits the road for the first time this season as it travels to Farmville, Va. to face Longwood on Friday, November 12, at noon. The meeting will mark the first time in program history that the teams will go head-to-head.
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