Stony Brook Women’s Basketball faced a 15-point deficit going into the final quarter against Binghamton Monday night. The team had been struggling to get its shots down, shooting just 37 percent from the field throughout the matchup.
The Seawolves jumped out to a 12-3 run to start the fourth, nailing two three-pointers with 5:38 left in regulation, narrowing the Bearcats lead to six. Stony Brook’s offensive push continued as junior guard Shania Johnson nailed two clutch free throws with a minute left in the game to close the deficit to just three points.
However, this was the closest the Seawolves got to victory.
Stony Brook fell to third-place Binghamton 69-64 at Island Federal Credit Union Arena on Feb. 5, despite the strong push late in the fourth quarter.
“We never got in an offensive flow tonight. A lot of our mistakes led to easy baskets for Binghamton,” head coach Caroline McCombs said in a press release. “Give credit to them for being the better team tonight. We need to regroup and get ready for another big conference game on Thursday night at UMass Lowell.”
Binghamton took a 30-second timeout with 51 seconds remaining. The team then went to the free-throw line, where two free throws put the Bearcats up five points. Freshman forward McKenzie Bushee went to the charity stripe, where she went one-for-two from the line. This sealed the victory for the Bearcats, who didn’t miss any of their remaining free throws.
Stony Brook outscored Binghamton 25-15 in the fourth quarter but was unable to capitalize in the final moments.
Binghamton maintained the lead for a majority of the game while Stony Brook led for about a minute. In the second quarter, the Bearcats pushed the tempo in the match on both ends of the floor. The Seawolves were held to just eight points in the second quarter and headed to the locker room behind by nine points at the half.
Both teams had free-throw streaks of their own throughout the matchup. The Seawolves and Bearcats hit every one of their free throws headed into the fourth quarter. The two opponents missed their first free throws of the game on their second shot from the line, Binghamton with 6:29 remaining, and Stony Brook with 47 seconds left on the clock.
Stony Brook’s 93 percent shooting from the free-throw line is the team’s new single-game season-high. The team’s overall average is now 67 percent.
Johnson led the Seawolves in scoring with 26 points, along with four assists and seven rebounds. This was the third time in four games where Johnson finished with 26 or more points and at least three rebounds.
She continues to hold the top spot in the America East in three-pointers per game with three makes per contest and three-point percentage at 36 percent. Johnson is fifth in the conference in scoring as well, averaging 16 points per game.
The Seawolves finished the matchup shooting 53 percent from the three-point arc. This was the second time this season that the team has shot above 50 percent all season.
Turnovers were recurring throughout the matchup for the Seawolves. The team turned the ball over a total of 18 times, in which the Bearcats capitalized. Binghamton scored 23 points off Stony Brook turnovers.
Stony Brook’s record now drops to 13-11, with a conference record of 5-6. The Seawolves have five games remaining in their season, all against America East opponents. The team currently sits at sixth place in the conference and two wins away from the third place spot. The Seawolves return to action on Thursday, Feb. 8 as the team travels to Massachusetts to take on UMass Lowell. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
