The Stony Brook University women’s basketball team fell to pieces in front of the Monmouth Hawks, 74-60. Stony Brook is now 2-3 on the season.

“Nothing went right,” said head coach Michele Cherry. “We did not rebound. Our offense was stagnant. We just got out-played. It was embarrassing.”

Overall, the Hawks had 12 assists to Stony Brook’s 11, and Monmouth had 45 rebounds to the Seawolves’ 37.

Even more importantly, Stony Brook mustered only 15 offensive rebounds to Monmouth’s 20.

“You can’t give up 20 offensive rebounds,” said Cherry.

Things went wrong from the very beginning. Monmouth jumped out to an early 13-5 lead. For four minutes, the Hawks biggest lead was nine, but then they began to beat down on the Seawolves

Monmouth really pulled away by making five of their nine three-point shots for the half. Three of such came from Erin Rooney, who was perfect from beyond the arc. On the other hand, Stony Brook’s only successful three-pointer came from senior Kirsten Jeter (Elmont, New York). The three guards that started the game for  Stony Brook scored only two points off of two free throws from sophomore Sam Landers (Springfield, Va.).

“Your guards have got to knock down shots,” said Cherry.

Monmouth finished the half with a 37-24 lead.

The second half was far better for the Seawolves. Their shooting  percentage was more than 10 percentage points higher and scored 12 more points than they had in the first. An emerging bright spot for Stony Brook was bench play. The Seawolves’ bench scored 35 of their 60 points.

Cherry identified another silver lining. “There’s one bright spot,” she said. “We didn’t turn the ball over.”

However, Stony Brook could never get to within 10 of the Hawks and at one point trailed by 20 points. Monmouth’s defense was suffocating, and it just wasn’t Stony Brook’s night.

Playing far more minutes than she has all semester was sophomore Taylor Burner (Port Jefferson, N.Y.). She has had health issues.

“She’s been playing well in practice,” Cherry said. “She’s earned it.”

On a more somber note, it appears that senior Misha Horsey will be out for the season with an ACL tear.  Senior Jodie Plikus, who went down in the previous game last Wednesday, also has a torn ACL. Cherry said that she’ll be out for a few weeks.

The Seawolves will next play on Thursday at home against Fairleigh Dickenson at 7 p.m.