SBU Sports: Women’s basketball falls to UNC Wilmington

Despite a 27-point effort from Zaida Gonzalez, Stony Brook women’s basketball fell to UNC Wilmington, 65-57, on Feb. 2 at Trask Coliseum. The Seawolves raced to a five-point lead, but the Seahawks came out hot in the second quarter and held an advantage the rest of the contest.

Behind Gonzalez’s performance, Breauna Ware tallied 11 points and five rebounds, while Janay Brantley helped out with seven points and three steals. Lauren Filien led on the boards with 10 rebounds on the day for the Seawolves.

After playing to a 2-2 tie early in the game, Stony Brook went on a 5-0 run with 6:43 left in the first quarter. The Seawolves then maintained that lead and entered the quarter break with a 13-8 advantage. Brantley led with five points through the opening frame.

The Seawolves could not maintain their lead in the second quarter as UNC Wilmington shot a game-high 69 percent from the field to take a seven-point lead entering the break.

Stony Brook’s deficit continued to grow after halftime, with the Seahawks hitting a trio of three-pointers to spark a 19 point advantage. Gonzalez popped off for nine points through the third quarter trying to close to the gap for the Seawolves.

Stony Brook came out of the third quarter break clicking on all cylinders, going on an 11-0 run to shrink the deficit to 52-44 with 5:42 to go in the contest. The Seawolves were unable to cut further into the deficit by the end of the game, losing 65-57. Stony Brook took advantage of three UNC Wilmington turnovers in the quarter, scoring eight points off of those takeaways.

Up next, the team returns to New York to take on Hofstra for the Battle of Long Island on Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. This will be the 16th all-time meeting between the Seawolves and Pride in program history. Coverage is set to be available on SNY and FloCollege.