Last year, a meltdown in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) championship game ended the Stony Brook women’s basketball team’s hopes of making it to the NCAA Tournament in disappointing fashion. This season, the climb back to the top begins again with a different look.
Just a week after the team’s second-round exit in the 2024 Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament, former head coach Ashley Langford departed from the program after three years, as she took the head coaching job at her alma mater, Tulane. In her final season with the Seawolves, she led the team to a 28-5 overall record and an 18-3 mark against conference opponents and was named the 2023-24 CAA Coach of the Year.
Two weeks after Langford’s exit, Stony Brook hired Joy McCorvey as its new head coach. After 13 years coaching at Tennessee, Florida State, Michigan and St. John’s, she will take the reins for the first time and look to duplicate Langford’s success, regardless of the sour ending.
However, McCorvey will navigate the 2024-25 campaign without Stony Brook’s top four scorers from a season ago, resulting in the Seawolves being picked to finish ninth out of 14 teams in the 2024-25 CAA women’s basketball preseason poll. Additionally, no Stony Brook players were recognized in the poll, which was determined by the league’s 14 coaches.
Last year, the Seawolves were the second-highest scoring team in the CAA with 72.9 points per game. Guard Gigi Gonzalez — the 2023-24 CAA Player of the Year — center Khari Clark, forward Sherese Pittman and guard Victoria Keenan accounted for 51.2 of those points or 70.2% of Stony Brook’s scoring.
While Gigi Gonzalez and Clark exhausted their eligibility, Pittman and Keenan followed Langford to Tulane.
However, the Seawolves were able to retain some significant pieces from last season’s powerhouse team within the conference. Guard Zaida Gonzalez and forward Shamarla King played important roles in the 2023-24 campaign and are back.
Zaida Gonzalez was a full-time starter and tallied 8.0 points on the second-highest three-point percentage on the team — behind Keenan — at a 37.3% clip.
Conversely, King was one of Stony Brook’s most prominent bench contributors. She played 23.9 minutes per game and delivered a .456/.313/.726 shooting line while scoring seven points a night.
With the aforementioned departures, the two should be used more prominently — especially on offense.
“[Our] roles are changing,” Zaida Gonzalez said in an interview with The Statesman. “We’re still working through that. Everyone is embracing their new role and [looking to] level up from last year.”
Alongside King in the frontcourt will likely be forward Kelis Corley, another player whose contributions this year will determine how far the Seawolves go. Predominantly a 3-and-D player, Corley was not very efficient last season, as she shot 27.8% from the field and 23.0% from beyond the arch. However, her defensive efforts helped Stony Brook become one of the best teams in the league on that end of the floor.
The Seawolves had the fourth-best scoring defense in the CAA last year, as they allowed just 57.6 points per game. Furthermore, they held opponents to the lowest three-point percentage (25.2%) and the second-lowest field goal percentage (35.0%) in the conference.
“We want to pride ourselves on the defensive end first and foremost,” McCorvey said. “We want to be gritty. We want to generate tips and deflections and really disrupt on the defensive end. And in return, that makes it fun on the offensive end and allows us to play a high-tempo style and push the pace in transition.”
McCorvey’s influence has paid immediate dividends for Corley.
“[McCorvey] makes sure that we’re getting better every day,” Corley said. “I just feel like every day I step on the court, I’m getting better.”
Another player that is bound to aid Stony Brook on both sides of the court is guard Janay Brantley, who backed up Gigi Gonzalez as point guard last season and now has big shoes to fill with the star no longer here.
Brantley’s six-foot frame made her an anomaly on defense, as in just 604 minutes in her first collegiate year, she registered 28 steals and 17 blocks. Despite Gigi Gonzalez leading the Seawolves with 46 steals in the 2023-24 campaign, Brantley’s frame made her a more intimidating defensive presence. However, she has a lot of ground to make up offensively.
Gigi Gonzalez’s recognition as the league’s best player last season was due to a combination of her scoring and ability as a floor general. She ranked second in the CAA in points per game (15.9) and assists per game (4.8). Gigi Gonzalez also shot the ball at a respectable .398/.312/.822 slashline.
In contrast, Brantley struggled to match her counterpart in running the offense and shooting the ball last year. She put up a .330/.239/.609 triple slash.
“We all have to do a little bit more, but not try to compare what we want to do to what they did,” Brantley said. “Just to go at our own pace, our own role and not put too much pressure on us to exceed what they did.”
While Brantley is the frontrunner to lead Stony Brook’s first unit, the team can also lean on transfer guards Devyn Scott and Chloe Oliver for that role.
Scott has four seasons of collegiate basketball under her belt, split between Fairleigh Dickinson and Florida Atlantic University (FAU). In the 2023-24 campaign with FAU, she averaged four points, two assists and 1.9 rebounds per game, predominantly off the bench. Moreover, she knocked down three-pointers at a high rate, as she posted a 36.1% three-point percentage.
Conversely, Oliver is in her second collegiate season after debuting with Davidson last year. She struggled immensely with her shot as a first-year player, as Oliver put forward a .291/.182/.458 shooting line. However, she was given many chances. A 12.8 minutes per game mark across 20 contests could have given her the experience necessary for a turnaround as a sophomore.
Additionally, guard Breauna Ware will play a role in the Seawolves’ backcourt. After transferring from St. Bonaventure and redshirting last season, she will be called upon with all of the exits that plagued the program. In her first year with the Bonnies, Ware shot 45.0% from the field and dished out 2.4 assists per game.
A rookie that could have an immediate impact is center Faith Wylder. With Clark leaving, Wylder could be utilized to replace the void left by Stony Brook’s five from a season ago, especially on the defensive end.
In the 2023-24 campaign, the Seawolves ranked first in the conference in rebounds per game (42.2) and fourth in blocks per contest (3.48). Clark herself tallied 7.0 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game, which ranked eighth and ninth in the league, respectively.
The only center-by-trade on the roster, Wylder’s 6-foot-5 presence looms over Clark’s 6-foot-2 frame. Unless Stony Brook looks to play small ball, Wylder should crack the starting lineup.
“[Wylder] is a monster,” King said. “She’s going to be very dominant. We just have to develop her into the player that she is and put her in the right spots to succeed.”
With their eventful offseason, expectations are not as high for the Seawolves as they were last year. While Stony Brook will hope to maintain their status as one of the CAA’s best, success for this season’s team is not quantifiable, according to McCorvey.
“[A successful season] is not a number,” McCorvey said. “It’s about the growth of our team. We have each other’s back and handle adversity, and it’s us in that circle that we’re fighting for every single day. That’s success in my book.”
The Seawolves will open their season on Nov. 4 in New York City, N.Y., where they will take on the Columbia Lions. Stony Brook defeated the Lions in last year’s season opener. Opening tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
Kevin Yu and Nayden Villorente also contributed reporting.
