The Stony Brook women’s basketball team notched their first win of the season as they went on the road and defeated the Manhattan Jaspers by a final score of 65-52 on Tuesday, Dec. 8 at the Draddy Gymnasium in Riverdale, New York.
The Seawolves put on a clinic against an opponent that they have beaten in each of their last five seasons, opening the game red-hot with 20 points on a combined 8-for-13 shooting and a perfect 4-for-4 at the free throw line in the first quarter.
While the Jaspers did manage to close the score to within three points during the second quarter, a 35-23 halftime score followed up by a 15-0 run in the third quarter helped the Seawolves to keep their first win of the season intact.
“It was a total team effort tonight and we competed on both ends of the court against one of the top teams in the MAAC,” head coach Caroline McCombs said in a postgame press release. “We really focused on getting off to a good start and I believe we did that.”
Highlighting the team’s effort was junior guard Anastasia Warren, who led the Seawolves with a team-high 14 points, six rebounds and three assists. Senior forward India Pagan, who was held scoreless against Syracuse, came on strong with 12 points and four rebounds as well. Senior forward McKenzie Bushee provided 10 points, and junior guard Earlette Scott chipped in nine points and nine rebounds.
It was the first time that Stony Brook had played in over a week. The team had a pair of scheduled contests against Sacred Heart on Wednesday, Dec. 2 and Thursday, Dec. 3 canceled after the Pioneers were shut down due to a person in the program testing positive for COVID-19. There was a nine-day gap between Tuesday’s victory and the Seawolves’ loss to No. 23 Syracuse on Sunday, Nov. 29.
The Seawolves must now turn their focus to Monday, Dec. 14, where they face their Long Island rival, the Hofstra Pride, home at Island Federal Arena at 1 p.m. Stony Brook thoroughly walloped the Pride on the road last season in an 81-38 rout and has not lost the rivalry to their Nassau County counterpart since 2016.
