Stony Brook Women’s Basketball celebrated the careers of its four seniors on Saturday afternoon, but it was a junior from Maine that stole the show. The Black Bears defeated the Seawolves, 60-43 to spoil the home team’s Senior Day.
Junior guard Sigi Koizar had a monster game for the Black Bears, scoring 30 points, the highest total by any Seawolves opponent all season. Although Koizar is the most accurate 3-point shooter in the America East, in this game she excelled on drives to the basket — she shot 11-for-14 on 2-point attempts.
“[Koizar] can shoot the ball, she’s quick and she’s very skilled with her European style of game,” Stony Brook head coach Caroline McCombs said of the Austrian. “We held her to the lowest point total of the year in our first game against them (four points on Jan. 24) so she definitely played with a vengeance today.”
Stony Brook hung in tight with Maine — who is tied with Albany for first place in the America East — for the much of the contest. With 3:28 remaining in the third quarter, the Seawolves trailed by a narrow margin, 32-28, but from there the Black Bears took control.
Over the next eight minutes, Maine went on a 18-4 run, including 11 points by Koizar, to storm in front and take control of the game in the waning moments. The loss was the fourth in a row for Stony Brook, who fell to 7-6 in conference play.
The Seawolves had difficulties on the offensive end of the floor. Despite committing only four turnovers in a nearly error-free game, McCombs’ team struggled to score. As a team, Stony Brook shot 32.1 percent from the field, compared with Maine’s 52.0 percent, and only two Seawolves (senior forward Brittany Snow and junior guard Kori Bayne-Walker) scored more than three points.
Snow was the only consistent threat to score for the Seawolves, as she put up a team-high 19 points on 8-for-15 shooting in the last home game of her career.
The four seniors — Snow, guard Kim Hanlon, guard Miranda Jenkins and forward Alyssa Coiro — were honored pregame besides their families, receiving flowers and plaques. With 71 total victories over four seasons, the class is the winningest in Stony Brook Women’s Basketball history.
“These seniors have bought into the program and have done anything and everything that I’ve asked,” McCombs said. “They’re hard workers, they’re high-character young women and I’m excited to see what they all do in their futures.”
Stony Brook will play in its regular season finale at Vermont on Feb. 28. In the teams’ first meeting this season, the Seawolves defeated the Catamounts, 73-59.
