By Drew Ciampa and Cameron Boon

The Stony Brook women’s basketball team opened up the New Year on Jan. 3, losing to the New Hampshire Wildcats, 60-52, on the Seawolves’ home court. The game also marked the start of conference play in the America East.

In its inaugural season, Island Federal Credit Union Arena was unfamiliar with defeat, as both men’s and women’s basketball were perfect at home prior to Saturday’s loss.

The game was not all bad, as a milestone was reached shortly after tip-off. Cheers rang through the arena when senior forward Sabre Proctor scored her 1,000th point in a Stony Brook uniform. Proctor went to the line early in the first half to shoot two free throws, the second being her 1,000th point. Calm and collected, Proctor hit both shots and cemented herself into program history as the 14th player to score 1,000 points in school history.

“It was great to do it on our home court in front of our fans. It’s a great accomplishment, and I give credit to my coaches, teammates and family,” Proctor said of her scoring milestone.

Stony Brook has seen few shooters better than Proctor, as she reached her 1,000th career point in just three years of playing as a member of the Seawolves.

“I’m proud of her for her career and that she reached this milestone here at Stony Brook,” Head Coach Caroline McCombs said.

The Seawolves also saw Brittany Snow and Jessica Ogunnorin contribute on both ends of the court. Snow scored a game-high 16 points and Ogunnorin grabbed six defensive rebounds, totaling 12.

At the end of the day, it was SBU’s shooting percentage that hurt them. With just a .370 field goal percentage, the team struggled to keep up with New Hampshire’s balanced scoring attack.

“We made good plays, but we couldn’t keep it consistent throughout the game and that was our downfall today,” Snow said regarding the team’s performance.

New Hampshire freshman center Carlie Pogue and junior guard Elizabeth Belanger led the way for the Wildcats, scoring 12 points each. New Hampshire took advantage of Stony Brook’s 12 turnovers and managed to score 17 of its 60 points off Seawolves miscues.

“It’s a huge factor. Only 12 turnovers which isn’t that bad overall, but the fact that they scored 17 points off those turnovers, that’s hard to defend,” McCombs said, “We will have to continue to work on taking care of the ball.”

On Wednesday, Stony Brook once again hit the court at Island FCU Arena, this time hosting another America East opponent in Vermont. In the contest, the Seawolves held the Catamounts to just 20.4 percent shooting from the field. As a result, the Seawolves came away with a 60-38 victory.

“It was a great team win. We got a lot of different people involved,” McCombs said after the convincing win.

Kori Bayne-Walker led the offensive attack for the Seawolves, scoring 12 points, while dishing out six assists and hauling in six rebounds.

“The team was shooting well so it was easy to drive and kick out. They were knocking down shots and we were able to move the ball well,” the Rochester, NY native said.

This Vermont squad struggled mightily against Stony Brook’s defensive unit, which has held six of its last seven opponents under 60 points.

Along with that, Kylie Butler (11.8 ppg) and Sydney Smith (13.5 ppg), the Catamounts’ two leading scorers, were held to a combined 16 points. Butler could not get a shot to fall, finishing 0-for-7 from the field. Smith would score 11 points in the first 12 minutes to keep Vermont in it, but she would not score from the field the rest of the game, allowing Stony Brook to pull away.

The Seawolves are now 5-1 when they hold their opponents to under 40 percent shooting from the floor.

Bayne-Walker started the day hot, scoring six of the first 12 Stony Brook points. Smith, who led all scorers in the matchup, was able to get inside position on a post up and lay the ball in to cut the lead to 14-11 with 14:17 left in the first half.

After that, it was off to the races for the Seawolves. Stony Brook would go off on a 24-8 run, and a balanced run at that. Bayne-Walker, Brittany Snow and Alyssa Coiro had four points each during the spurt, while Kristie Constantino added five to push the Seawolves lead to 21. The Abington, PA native drove the lane and hit a layup with 21 seconds left in the half.

All of this was done without the Seawolves’ leading scorer Proctor, who played all of 74 seconds after picking up two fouls and having to sit on the bench in favor of Coiro.

Emilie Cloutier hit her only shot of the half to get the lead back under 20, but that would do little as far as momentum and getting Vermont back in the game.

Vermont would duplicate their first half production, putting up 19 points again and shooting a dreadful 5-of-30 from the field in the second half.

The Seawolves would keep the Catamounts at arms-length in the second half. Vermont could only get within 16, which was at the 16:05 mark of the period. Proctor quickly responded with a layup plus the foul, which would turn into three of her six-point output.

Vermont’s 38-point output was the lowest SBU has given up to an opposing team since Nov. 25, 2012, when NJIT was only able to put up 34 points against the Beth O’Boyle defense.

“I think (the defense) is still a work in progress. We’re continuing to work on it every day in practice,” McCombs said.

The Seawolves coaching staff will look to continue to improve this stifling defense into more of a threat and will have some time to do so. The next matchup for McCombs’ squad is this Wednesday when the Seawolves take on the UMBC Retrievers in Baltimore. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Retriever Activities Center Arena.