STONY BROOK, N.Y. – For the third time in its last four games, the Stony Brook University women's basketball team (8-1) had at least four student-athletes score in double figures en route to a victory.
The Seawolves knocked off Penn (4-7), 75-69, on Friday night inside Island Federal Arena behind the quartet of graduate forward
India Pagan, junior guard
Gigi Gonzalez, senior guard
Earlette Scott, and graduate forward
Leighah-Amori Wool all scoring in double-digits.
Pagan led the way with a season-high 20 points on an efficient 8-of-15 shooting from the floor as she dominated down low. Gonzalez finished the game with 14 points and did a bulk of her damage in the contest in the second half as she totaled nine points over the final 20 minutes. Scott and Wool each added 10 points apiece as they helped guide the Seawolves to their eighth victory of the season.
After a back and forth first half, Stony Brook used a 12-0 scoring run that carried over from the first half into the second to build its lead. The Seawolves were able to go ahead, 43-36, at the conclusion of the scoring spurt. Following that run, Stony Brook never looked back as it led for the remainder of the contest and secured its conference leading eighth win of the season.
The Seawolves' lead grew to as large as 13 points in the fourth quarter as Gonzalez gave Stony Brook its biggest advantage of the game as she converted a driving layup with 6:35 to play. Penn responded and got within five points of the lead with 4:52 to play in the game, but the Seawolves were able to fend off the Quakers' come-from-behind attempt.
STATS AND NOTES
- Pagan ended the night with a season-high 20 points after a strong first half where she scored 16 points. The forward pulled down eight rebounds and notched her 600th career rebound in the contest. She shot 8-of-15 from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 from the free-throw line. Pagan also dished out a pair of assists over 31 minutes of play.
- Gonzalez tallied 14 points on 4-of-9 shooting from the field and went a perfect 5-of-5 from the free-throw line. The guard recorded a season-high five rebounds, dished out three assists, and swiped two steals. Gonzalez scored nine of her 14 points in the second half of the game. She has scored in double figures in seven out of the nine games this season.
- Vargas-Reyes was inserted into the starting lineup for the first time this season. The senior scored six points and pulled down a season-high and career-high 14 rebounds. The 14 rebounds were the most in a game by a Seawolf since Cheyenne Clark totaled 16 rebounds against Bucknell on December 29, 2019.
- Scott and Wool each finished with 10 points apiece for Stony Brook.
- Freshman guard Erin Turral scored nine points and handed out three assists in her second collegiate game.
- The Seawolves shot at a high-rate from the free-throw line as they went 15-of-17 (88.2%) from the stripe.
- Stony Brook is now 7-0 when it outrebounds its opponent, this time besting the Quakers on the boards 44-38.
- The Seawolves improve to 4-0 at Island Federal Arena this season and 50-11 on their home court since 2017-18.
- Stony Brook dominated in the paint as it scored 42 of its points from down low.
QUOTES FROM THE SEAWOLVES
"I'm proud of how we found a way to win – we were resilient today. We've had a lot of moving pieces and parts; I'm really glad that they locked in for 40 minutes and were able to be resilient, kept fighting, and found a way. I'm pleased to get a win right before we go on a long break. Overall, I'm just proud of the way they keep being resilient, growing, and pushing through all the adversity that we had," said head coach
Ashley Langford.
"Everyone knows their role, everyone knows what shots to take, everyone knows each other's strengths and weaknesses. We play really well together and obviously it just showed on the court," Pagan on the keys to Stony Brook's offensive success.
"I knew today was going to be a competitive game, they came out playing super hard. I told myself that I had to play stronger and harder because I knew it was going to be a physical game so I was prepared for that," Vargas-Reyes on playing physical throughout the game.
NEXT UP
The Seawolves are back on the court on Tuesday, December 21, at 1 p.m., when they travel to Nassau County to face Hofstra in the Battle of Long Island. Stony Brook is winners of each of the last four meetings with the Pride, and earned a 63-52 win over them in the last meeting on December 14, 2020.
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