A year after nearly missing out on a NCAA Tournament bid, the Stony Brook women’s basketball team failed to advance past the opening round in this season’s conference tournament.
Kicking off the 2025 Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) Championship, the 12th-seeded Seawolves (12-18, 7-11 CAA) faced the 13th-seeded Hampton Pirates (8-22, 3-15 CAA) at CareFirst Arena in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday afternoon. Although it got off to a hot start, Stony Brook quickly relinquished an early lead and, with turnovers plaguing it all day, was narrowly defeated 76-75.
In what turned out to be the final game of her collegiate career, guard Shamarla King came out firing, looking to avoid the inevitable. She was also the Seawolves’ top performer when they fell at home to the Pirates nearly a month prior, posting 19 points then to lead all scorers.
Matched up with Hampton center Arina Nikishina — the tallest player on the court at 6-foot-6 — to start things off, King turned a David and Goliath showdown on paper to her favor. Utilizing her advantage in quickness and footwork, King scored seven points on Nikishina — including a three-point play — and forced a miss from the Pirates’ big not even two minutes into the game.
“Just taking advantage of the mismatch,” King said in a postgame press conference. “Reading their defense.”
On Wednesday, Nikishina only saw time on the floor when Stony Brook jumped out to a 7-0 lead; after giving up a hoop and the harm, she was substituted to never go back in.
Nikishina’s absence meant a smaller lineup for Hampton, which worked to perfection for head coach Tamisha Augustin. After its early deficit, the Pirates transitioned to an occasional full-court press, suffocating the Seawolves who failed to adjust.
For Stony Brook, forward Dallysshya Moreno provided the team’s size. The freshman had arguably the best game of her career, registering 13 points on a perfect 5-for-5 shooting from the field and 3-for-3 from the free throw line alongside 10 rebounds — with six coming on the offensive glass. However, the Seawolves did not play off of her after their early flurry and with Nikishina on the bench. Instead, they relied on their ball handlers and encamped the arc to no avail.
After converting its first five shots with just one turnover sandwiched in to go up 14-4, Stony Brook ended the half with an astonishing 12 turnovers to Hampton’s three. The Seawolves also shot just 2-for-10 from three-point range during the opening 20 minutes. Combine that with elite fastbreak play from the Pirates — who scored 18 points from those giveaways — alongside efficient general offense from Hampton, and you get a 41-36 advantage for the lower seed after two quarters.
The third period played out in similar fashion. Stony Brook turned the ball over five times to just a single giveaway from the Pirates, meaning its edge in shooting efficiency (42.9% to 33.3%) in the frame did not matter, as it was outscored 16-15.
Down 57-51 with their season on the line, the Seawolves made a pair of valiant comeback efforts in the final quarter, but it was not enough. First, starting with 6:16 remaining in the affair after a back-and-forth opening to the period, Stony Brook scored seven unanswered points to close its gap to 68-65 — a run spearheaded by five points from Moreno, including an and-one layup.
Next, after Hampton forward Aisha Dabo drilled a three to put her team up 72-66, the Seawolves scored on three straight possessions. However, Stony Brook also sent the Pirates to the charity stripe on three separate occasions down the stretch, putting an end to its 2024-25 campaign.
“We didn’t get stops,” head coach Joy McCorvey said. “It’s pretty clear. We scored the ball, we scored 75 points. Every quarter we were shooting the ball pretty well. But you have to get stops. That’s what we preach. That’s who we are, who we want to be.”
The Seawolves put up a .519/.316/.789 shooting line alongside 18 turnovers. Conversely, Hampton had a .446/.294/.591 triple slash to go with just seven turnovers — a season-low in its most important game of the year thus far.
Outside of Moreno, Stony Brook’s bench — as it has been all season — was thin. Two players provided zero points, while the Pirates accounted for 41 bench points.
The Seawolves had four players in the double-digits in scoring: guard Breauna Ware (18), King (17), guard Janay Brantley (15) and Moreno. Guard Zaida Gonzalez — their top scorer this year — registered just nine points on 4-of-10 shooting.
Hampton guard Le’Asia Foreman shined on Wednesday. She led the Pirates in scoring with 18 points off the bench alongside 14 rebounds, including nine on the offensive end. Those numbers were all career-highs for Foreman.
She was complemented by Dabo, who finished with 17 points on 7-of-16 efficiency.
Hampton guards Diamond Wiggins and Tyra Kennedy chipped in with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
With year one of McCorvey’s tenure now over, Stony Brook will look ahead to a busy offseason, as it looks to replace key departures due to eligibility exhaustion — such as King — and bolster the roster as a whole.
