SBU Sports: Women’s basketball outlasts Charleston in overtime thriller

SBU Sports: Women’s basketball outlasts Charleston in overtime thriller

Photo courtesy of Stony Brook Athletics

Stony Brook women’s basketball came back from an 11-point deficit with Zaida Gonzalez knocking down a game-tying shot with one second left on the clock to send the game to overtime and Shamarla King put the team ahead for good to give the Seawolves an 87-83 win over Charleston at home on Jan. 12.

The Seawolves (8-7, 3-1) had four players score in double figures, led by Gonzalez, who put together a Division I program recording breaking performance with 37 points, tallying her first career double-double with 10 rebounds. Janay Brantley tacked on 12 points and seven rebounds as King helped out with a double-double of her own, 11 points and 10 rebounds. Breauna Ware also recorded 11 points to help Stony Brook to the overtime victory.

The Seawolves had an effective defensive performance, grabbing 32 rebounds to Charleston’s 24 and forcing 13 Charleston turnovers. Gonzalez led with nine rebounds on the defensive end, while King collected seven.

On the offensive end, Stony Brook shot 41.9 percent from the field and 29.4 from beyond the arc while crashing the offensive glass with 18 total boards compared to the Cougars’ 16. Brantley and King both grabbed a team-high three offensive rebounds each.

After playing to a 2-2 tie early in the game, Stony Brook went on a 7-0 run with 7:59 left in the first quarter, culminating in a three from Gonzalez, to take a 9-2 lead. Charleston then responded to tie things up at 18-18 heading into the second quarter. Stony Brook capitalized on six Charleston turnovers in the period, as Brantley led early with six points and five rebounds.

The two teams then played an even second quarter and entered halftime with the score knotted up at 32-32. Brantley and Ware each tallied four points to keep the Seawolves on pace with the Cougars.

After intermission, Charleston snatched a 38-35 lead before Stony Brook answered back by going on a 5-0 run, punctuated by a three from Ware, to grab a 40-38 lead with 5:56 to go in the third. Chloe Oliver notched five points to lead the Seawolves through the quarter as the Cougars responded to seize a 54-47 lead entering the fourth quarter.

Charleston kept widening its lead in the fourth, constructing a 72-64 advantage before Stony Brook went on a 7-0 run, finished off by another Gonzalez three, to shrink the deficit to 72-71 with 10 seconds to go in the fourth. Gonzalez was the rallying cry for Stony Brook, scoring 17 points in the fourth quarter as the Seawolves outscored the Cougars the rest of the way to tie it up at 73-73 to send the game to overtime.

 Stony Brook then took care of business, outscoring Charleston as Gonzalez tallying 10 of the 14 Seawolves points to seize victory by a final score of 87-83.

“An unbelievably hard-fought game by both teams,” noted head coach Joy McCorvey postgame. “Charleston is a very good team, and we knew we had to bring it on the defensive side and take pride in our 1 v 1 defense. Zaida Gonzalez was unbelievable and put on quite a display on the offensive end and knocked down her free throws down the stretch. She stepped up big when we lost Janay and Breauna to foul trouble as well as everyone that came in. Great and fun team win!”

Up next, the team travels to North Carolina to take on Elon on Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. with coverage available on FloCollege. This will be only the fourth meeting between the Seawolves and Phoenix in program history.

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