EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Stony Brook women's basketball team (10-7, 4-2 CAA) fell on the road against North Carolina A&T (12-6, 6-1 CAA), 68-60, on Friday night in East Greensboro, N.C. In the battle of teams that were atop of the CAA standings, the Aggies took the advantage in the second half by outscoring the Seawolves, 36-23, over the final 20 minutes of play.
The Seawolves were paced by graduate guard
Anastasia Warren who scored a game-high 25 points, and sophomore forward
Sherese Pittman scoring 20 points and grabbing eight rebounds. Senior guard
Gigi Gonzalez set a new career-best with 10 assists.
Stony Brook jumped out of the gates fast, climbing to a nine-point advantage at the 6:17 mark of the first quarter. Warren had a blazing start, knocking down her first three shots for nine of the first 11 points to give Stony Brook an 11-2 lead. The Georgia native wasn't finished there, as she would score four of the final six points of the quarter to give herself 13 points and the Seawolves four-point lead after 10 minutes of play.
Heading into the second quarter up, 17-13, the Seawolves continued their scorching ways by shooting 46.7 percent from the field to give themselves a 37-32 lead into the break. Pittman and graduate
Daishai Almond collected eight points each in the frame. Gonzalez was finding all of the Seawolves in the first half, dishing out eight of her 10 assists, while Pittman controlled the glass with seven boards. Almond, Pittman, and Warren combined for 35 of the 37 points in the first half.
The Aggies narrowed down the Stony Brook lead to 49-48 after the end of the third quarter. North Carolina A&T held the Seawolves to 12 points in the quarter and went on a 12-4 run to cut the deficit to one-point.
After going back-and-forth in the fourth quarter and taking a 60-59 lead with 4:44 left to play, the team from East Greensboro went on a 9-0 run to ultimately take the 68-60 victory.
STATS AND NOTES
- Warren led the team with 25 points on 9-of-21 shooting from the field and had four rebounds in the defeat. The Georgia native leads the team with seven 20-plus point performances this season and is averaging a team-best 17.2 points per game.
- Pittman collected 20 points and eight rebounds. The forward is now averaging a team-high 7.7 rebounds per game and has scored in double-digits in 13 of the Seawolves' 17 games this season.
- The Seawolves' floor general Gonzalez scored two points and dished out a career-best 10 assists. The 10 assists eclipsed her previous personal-best of eight dimes vs. Hartford (Jan. 1, 2022). The senior is now second in the CAA with 72 assists and averaging 4.2 per game.
- Almond scored 11 points, grabbed three rebounds, and dished out three assists. It was the fifth time this season that the sophomore scored in double-digits.
- Junior Shamarla King grabbed seven rebounds, dished out two assists, and tallied two points.
- The Seawolves starters (Gonzalez, Warren, Almond, Pittman, and King) scored all 60 points for Stony Brook.
- Stony Brook's 17 assists were the second-most in a game this season (18 at High Point on November 23, 2022, and 18 vs William & Mary on December 30, 2022).
- The squad moves to 1-1 all-time against the Aggies.
QUOTES FROM THE SEAWOLVES
"North Carolina A&T was the better team tonight. We will regroup and focus on closing out the weekend with a win," said head coach Ashley Langford as she discussed Friday night's game against the Aggies.
NEXT UP
The Seawolves will return to the court on Sunday afternoon, January 20, to take on the Elon Phoenix in Elon, N.C. It marks the first meeting between the two teams in program history. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m., and the game will broadcast live on FloHoops.
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