After guard Annie Warren’s three-pointer brought the Stony Brook women’s basketball team all the way back, one simple layup undid all of its comeback efforts.
In their regular season finale, the Seawolves (17-12, 11-7 CAA) traveled to New Jersey to take on the Monmouth Hawks on Saturday. Even a 19-2 run over the last five minutes of the game could not stop Stony Brook from falling to the Hawks, 72-71.
Despite rising to second place in the standings on Feb. 24, Stony Brook will now enter the 2023 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) postseason tournament as the sixth seed.
Stony Brook’s offense struggled to get going on Saturday night, shooting just 35.4% from the field through the first three quarters. Monmouth led by 13 points entering the fourth quarter and extended its lead to 16 halfway through the quarter after a pair of free throws from guard Kaci Donovan.
After facing its largest deficit of the night, Stony Brook’s offense finally woke up. With 4:44 remaining, a three-pointer from Warren sparked a 19-2 run.
Warren spearheaded the comeback effort with a high-arching three-pointer with 4:44 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Just 12 seconds later, Warren came up with a steal and drew a foul before knocking down two free throws.
Guard Daishai Almond took the baton from Warren and copied her perfectly, knocking down a three-pointer and two free throws of her own. Those 10 unanswered points in a two-minute span brought Stony Brook within six of Monmouth, making the score 68-62 with 3:07 remaining.
Inside of three minutes, guard Erin Turral stole the ball from Monmouth guard Bri Tinsley and converted on a fast-break layup. Within the final two minutes, Almond mirrored Turral and took the ball away from Tinsley, setting up another fast-break layup to cut the deficit to just two points. With just over a minute remaining, Almond drew a foul after securing a rebound and sank both free throws to tie the game at 68 apiece.
The tie was short lived, as Monmouth forward Lucy Thomas made a layup to give the Hawks a two-point lead with 43 seconds remaining in the game.
On the ensuing Stony Brook possession, Almond stepped out of bounds while driving the lane and turned the ball over. However, she made up for her blunder with a steal to set up a fast-break opportunity. Warren led the fastbreak, stopped on a dime and drained a high-arching three-pointer to give the Seawolves a 71-70 lead with 19 seconds left.
The Seawolves needed one defensive stop to complete the comeback victory. However, with five seconds remaining, Tinsley drove down the lane and hit the game-winning layup over Warren to snatch their comeback away.
Head coach Ashley Langford commended the team’s come-from-behind effort, though it ultimately fell short.
“I am proud of the sense of urgency that we displayed in the fourth quarter,” Langford said in a postgame interview with Stony Brook Athletics.
Stony Brook had several statistical advantages in the game. The team had 26 points off Monmouth’s 19 turnovers, while only surrendering 10 points off 11 turnovers. Stony Brook took advantage of fast-break opportunities, outscoring Monmouth 16-9 on those chances. The Seawolves stole the ball 10 times from the Hawks, while Monmouth only had five steals for the game.
In the end, Monmouth was the more efficient team. The Hawks shot 46.4% from the field and 47.8% from deep, while knocking down 81.8% of their free throws. Stony Brook only shot 38.5% overall and 41.7% from three-point range.
Warren and Almond co-led Stony brook with 21 points apiece. Warren shot just 6-of-18 from the field, but went 5-for-8 from deep. On defense, she racked up two blocks and three steals. Almond shot 7-for-16 overall and went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. Forward Shamarla King led the team with 10 rebounds.
Monmouth guard Elizabeth Marsicano and Thomas were their team’s leading scorers with 14 points each. Donovan chipped in 11 points off the bench, going 2-for-3 from deep and 5-for-5 from the charity stripe. Guard Ariana Vanderhoop led Monmouth in both rebounds (10) and assists (six).
Tinsley did not have a good night overall, scoring only nine points on 3-of-12 shooting while committing six turnovers, but her bucket with five seconds remaining was all that mattered in the end.
With the Seawolves’ regular season over, their next game will be in the 2023 CAA championship tournament. It will be their first-ever trip to the CAA tournament. As the sixth seed, Stony Brook is set to face the 11th seed — the Elon Phoenix — on Thursday in Towson, Md. Elon went 9-20 overall and 5-13 in conference play during the regular season. They are coming off a 70-63 loss to Towson on Saturday. Opening tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
