SBU Sports: Women’s basketball victorious in Battle of Long Island
Breauna Ware recorded a career-high 22 points to help lead Stony Brook women’s basketball over Hofstra in the Battle of Long Island, 47-42, at home on Feb. 7.
Ware led the Seawolves (11-11, 6-5) with a career-high in points and rebounds, adding three steals and an assist. Zaida Gonzalez tacked on 12 points, two rebounds and two steals, while Shamarla King chipped in as well with eight points and nine rebounds.
Hofstra out-rebounded Stony Brook, 48-43, as the Seawolves had seven different players grabbing at least one board. Led by King’s three offensive boards, the Seawolves did a great job crashing the glass, pulling down 11 boards. Stony Brook’s defense also forced 14 Pride turnovers which turned into 20 points, while holding them to 29.5 percent from the field and 14.3 percent from beyond the arc.
After falling behind 2-0, Stony Brook went on a 5-0 run with 7:47 left in the first quarter, culminating in a driving layup from Janay Brantley and a three pointer from King, to take a 5-2 lead. The Seawolves then surrendered that lead and entered the second quarter down 11-9. Ware grabbed four rebounds, as King scored a team-high five points with three rebounds. The Seawolves fought back in the second period, narrowing the deficit to 21-20 by the time halftime rolled around. Ware, King, and Gonzalez combined to score Stony Brook’s 11 points.
The Seawolves came out of halftime with a rally, going on a 6-0 run to expand its lead to 33-26. Defensively, Stony Brook took advantage of seven Hofstra turnovers, scoring nine points off of takeaways and held them to only seven points through the third quarter.
The Battle of Long Island would become a back-and-forth affair as each scored a pair of buckets to start the fourth quarter. Ware would score 10 points to help the Seawolves hold on to the lead and emerge victorious.
“Big win after a tough road stretch. Hofstra is a really good team … so we had our work cut out for us defensively. Really proud of our effort. It was very ugly but we stayed locked in to the game plan and to defending and that’s why we overcame and were able to get the victory,” said head coach Joy McCorvey at the postgame press conference.
The team stays on the Island to take on Hampton for Faculty and Staff Appreciation on Feb. 14 at 12 p.m. This will be only the fourth all-time meeting between the Seawolves and Pirates in program history. Coverage is set to be available on SNY and FloCollege.
