SBU Sports: Women’s basketball powers past Northeastern in CAA opener
Janay Brantley scored a career-high 25 points and Breauna Ware added 19 to push the Stony Brook women’s basketball team over the Northeastern Huskies, 72-51, to open CAA play on the road in Boston, Mass. on Jan. 3.
Brantley led the Seawolves with 25 points as Ware tacked on 19 points, five assists and two steals and Dallysshya Moreno chipped in with 10 points and nine rebounds off of the bench.
Stony Brook shared the ball well in Friday’s contest, racking up 15 assists on 29 made field goals. Individually, Ware and Shamarla King each dished out five assists for the Seawolves.
The Stony Brook defense held Northeastern shooters to just 35.7 percent from the field. The Huskies did not get many second opportunities on the offensive end, as they grabbed only seven offensive rebounds and scored six second chance points while Stony Brook pulled down 30 defensive rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After falling behind 3-2, Stony Brook went on a 5-0 run with 7:53 left in the first quarter, culminating in a three from Brantley, to take a 7-3 lead. The Huskies fought back but the Seawolves still entered the quarter break with a 20-17 advantage. Brantley led through the first 10 minutes with seven points as Stony Brook tallied 10 of their points in the paint.
Northeastern rallied to take a 24-23 lead before Stony Brook went on a 6-0 run starting at the 5:57 mark in the second period, highlighted by a bucket from Ware, to go up 29-24. A pair of three pointers from Brantley would help the Seawolves hold a 34-28 advantage going into halftime.
Stony Brook continued to preserve its first half lead before going on a 7-0 run, punctuated by a three from Zaida Gonzalez, to expand its lead further to 49-36 with 4:02 to go in the third. The Seawolves added a bucket to close out the quarter with a 55-40 edge.
Stony Brook kept its lead intact before going on a 6-0 run, finished off by Elizabeth Field’s layup, to grow the lead to 72-51 with 44 seconds to go in the contest, a score which would hold for the rest of the game.
“Great road win to start conference play,” noted head coach Joy McCorvey postgame. “We battled through Northeastern’s runs and put together multiple stops in a row which helped us pull away in the second half. Brantley was huge for us tonight on both ends of the ball. She works so hard, and I’m glad she was rewarded on the offensive end with a career high tonight. Ware also played tremendous minutes tonight and was very efficient with her scoring along with five assists. A big focus for her has been finding the balance of getting others involved while also being a scorer for us. Moreno was a major spark off the bench and helped give us a big presence on the glass and finished with 10 points.”
“We are continuing to work hard on sharing the ball and limiting our turnovers and tonight we did that with 15 assists and only six turnovers. Huge growth for us and hopefully we can bring that momentum into Sunday’s game. Quick turnaround, but we will celebrate this first one and move on to Monmouth,” she added.
The team returns to the court on Sunday, Jan. 5 to take on Monmouth in West Long Branch, N.J. with tip-off scheduled for 2 p.m. The Seawolves are 5-3 all-time against the Hawks as they emerged victorious in their last matchup on Feb. 4, 2024, down the shore, 78-62. The game will be streamed live on FloCollege.
