THE MATCHUP: The Stony Brook University women's basketball team (8-1) continues their homestand at Island Federal against PAC-12 opponent Washington State (8-2) on Sunday, December 19, at 2 p.m. The game is set to air on ESPN+ with Sam Neidermann and Ralph Bednarczyk on the call.
 
BATTLE OF THE COASTS: Stony Brook and Washington State have never faced off against each other. This will be the first meeting in history. The Seawolves currently hold a 0-1 record against PAC-12 opponents. The last and only time Stony Brook has gone head-to-head with a PAC-12 member was against #3 Arizona in the first round of the NCAA tournament on March 22, 2020. The no. 14 seeded Seawolves fell to the Wildcats, 79-44, at the Alamodome.
 
TAKIN' DOWN THE IVY'S: Stony Brook took down Ivy League foe Penn on December 10, 75-69, on The Island. Pagan and Gonzalez combined to rake in 34 of Stony Brook's 75 points. Wool and Vargas-Reyes followed behind bringing in ten points each. After a back and forth first half, the Seawolves went on a 12-0 scoring run starting in the first half and carried the momentum into the second building their lead to 43-36. Stony Brook never gave Penn the chance to comeback as they held the lead for the remainder of the game. The Seawolves currently hold a 29-22 all-time record against Ivy League opponents.
 
SUCCESS ONLY COMES BEFORE WORK IN THE DICTIONARY: Senior forward Nairimar Vargas-Reyes owns the boards this season recording a new season-high rebounds against the Quakers (14). This tops her previous career-high (13), which was also set earlier during the 2021-22 campaign against St. Francis Brooklyn. Vargas-Reyes also recorded her first career double-double against St. Francis Brooklyn (13 points, 13 rebounds). Pagan knocked down a season-high 20 points against Penn, shooting 8-of-15 from the floor. India currently sits in the Top 25 (15) amongst the NCAA rankings for field-goal percentage (60.0%) for the 2021-22 season. With four players finishing the night in double-figures against Penn, Stony Brook has recorded at least four student-athletes scoring in double-figures in three of the last four games.
 
STRONG ISLAND BASKETBALL: Stony Brook did not let up on defense against Penn, converting more than half of the team's points from within the paint (42). The Seawolves kept the pressure on the ball and were able to score 20 points off of turnovers. Stony Brook has outrebounded its opponents in seven games this season and has posted a 7-0 record in those contests.
 
JOINING THE CLUB: India Pagan went up strong against the Quakers to pull down her 600th career rebound. The graduate forward totaled eight rebounds on the night and currently has 606 career rebounds.
 
SCOUTING THE COUGARS: The Cougars suffered their second loss of the 2021-22 campaign on Saturday, December 18, falling to BYU, 71-53. Washington State currently holds a 50-39 record against WCC opponents. Washington State's scoring offense is led by sophomore guard Charlisse Leger-Walker. Charlisse scored 21 of the Cougars' 53 points against BYU. The sophomore currently leads the team averaging 17.0 points over ten starts which places her in the top 100 amongst the NCAA ranks. Head coach Kamie Ethridge is in her fourth year at the helm of Washington State. Ethridge led the Cougars to the program's first NCAA Tournament berth in 30 seasons and to it's first-ever ranking in the Associated Press Top-25 poll, coming in at No. 25 in the Jan. 11, 2021 poll. This is Ethridge's first appearance against Stony Brook.