Syracuse, N.Y. – The Le Moyne College women's basketball team suffered an 82-61 setback against the Stony Brook Seawolves in its home opener on Saturday afternoon at Ted Grant Court.
Le Moyne trailed 22-18 after 10 minutes, then 40-30 at halftime, but a 14-0 run by Stony Brook to start the third period helped the visitors pull away.
Sophomore guard
Sierra Linnin (Valley Cottage, N.Y./Albertus Magnus) led the Dolphins in scoring with a season-high 15 points. Linnin knocked down three three-point field goals and shot 4-4 from the free-throw line.
Fifth-year guard
Lytoya Baker (Rochester, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) scored in double figures for the third time in as many games to begin the season, tallying 11 points, a team-high six rebounds, three assists and a team-best three steals on Saturday. Baker shot a team-best 5-5 from the line.
Sophomore guard
Kaia Goode (Rochester, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) also recorded three assists for Le Moyne to go along with nine points, three rebounds and a steal, while junior guard
Emily Florvil (Brooklyn, N.Y./Nazareth) added three assists, five rebounds, two steals and a field goal.
Le Moyne redshirt-junior forward
Haedyn Roberts (Holland Patent, N.Y./Holland Patent) shot 4-4 from the line and finished the non-conference contest with seven points, four rebounds and an assist.
Sophomore guard
Michelina Lombardi (Wynantskill, N.Y./Averill Park) registered five points, a steal and a rebound in 15 minutes off the bench, while freshman guard
Zhara Adeyemi (Brooklyn, N.Y./South Shore) scored her first career field goal and knocked down two free throws to finish the game with four fourth-quarter points.
Stony Brook graduate center Khari Clark led the Seawolves in scoring with 19 points on 9-10 from the field to go along with a game-high eight rebounds.
Graduate guard Gigi Gonzalez and junior forward Sherese Pittman tallied 14 points, seven assists and two steals each for Stony Brook. Gonzalez shot 3-6 from long range and 5-7 from the free-throw line, while Pittman went 4-7 from the field and 6-6 from the line.
Freshman guard Janay Brantley recorded seven assists and zero turnovers in 18 minutes off the bench for Stony Brook.
As a team, the Dolphins shot 15-16 from the free-throw line, compared to 16-21 for Stony Brook.
Le Moyne, which lost games at Colorado State and #20 Colorado to begin the season, recorded season-highs in points (61), field goals made (20), steals (10), caused turnovers (16) and bench points (17) during Saturday's matchup.
Le Moyne shot 7-13 from the field during the first 10 minutes, and they were a perfect 7-7 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter during which they outscored the Seawolves by a tally of 23-20.
Stony Brook shot 28-51 from the field, including 10-24 from beyond the three-point line during the 40 minutes.
The Seawolves shot 8-15 from the field and 3-6 from three during their big third quarter while holding the Dolphins to 2-13 from the field and 0-5 from long range.
The Dolphins will return to action on Monday with a non-conference matchup at #21 University of Southern California.
Le Moyne took their only lead of the game in the opening minute when Linnin knocked down a three pointer from the right wing after coming off a screen set by Baker and receiving a pass from Goode.
Clark and Pittman combined to score the next eight points of the contest, then Goode came off a Baker screen towards the right wing, received a pass from Florvil and swished a contested three pointer to trim the deficit to 10-6.
With under 3:45 left in the opening quarter, Baker converted a jumper in the paint, caused a turnover at the other end, then drove to the basket and scored a running layup on the ensuing possession to make it 16-12 in favor of the visitors.
Linnin made a move towards the left block and scored a contested running layup from outside the paint at the 2:44 mark to make it a two-point game, but Pittman converted a three-point play less than a minute later, and SBU senior guard Shamarla King knocked down a triple with 1:04 left in the first to put the Seawolves back up by eight.
With under a minute left in the first, Florvil crossed over to her right at the top of the key, drove towards the basket and banked in a shot over the outstretched arm of a Stony Brook defender to cut the deficit to six.
Florvil grabbed a contested defensive rebound at the other end, then Roberts drove to the basket during Le Moyne's final possession of the quarter, drew a foul in the paint and converted two free throws to make it a four-point game after 10 minutes.
A three pointer from Linnin, following a drive and kick by Goode, less than a minute into the second quarter made it a one-point game, but King answered with a three of her own at the other end.
With a little over seven minutes remaining in the second quarter, Le Moyne freshman guard
Leah Middleton (Auburn, N.Y./Auburn) deflected a pass which led to a steal for the Dolphins, then Roberts found her on a backdoor cut for a layup at the other end to make it 27-25 in favor of Stony Brook.
The Seawolves then went on an 8-0 run with a three pointer from Gonzalez, a layup by Pittman, and two free throws from Gonzalez to open up a 10-point lead with just under two minutes remaining in the first half.
Following three turnovers and two missed shots from the Dolphins, Lombardi, who knocked home a jumper from just outside the paint earlier in the period, swished a timely three from the right wing at the 1:28 mark after Baker backed her way into the paint, drew a double team then threw a pass to her on the perimeter.
Stony Brook scored the final three points of the first half with a layup by Lauren Filien and a free throw by King to take a 40-30 lead after 20 minutes of action.
Le Moyne missed their first 10 field goal attempts of the third quarter as the Seawolves' lead swelled to 28 points.
Clark scored nine points in the first five minutes of the third period, while Gigi Gonzales and Zaida Gonzalez each scored five points for SBU during the penultimate quarter.
Stony Brook took its largest lead of the game with 4:42 in the fourth quarter as graduate guard Victoria Keenan drained a three in transition from the left wing to make it 75-45 in favor of the visitors.
Baker then drove to the basket, drew a foul and made two free throws for Le Moyne. During the next SBU possession, Baker knocked away an attempted entry pass into the post, regained possession for Le Moyne, dribbled up the middle of the court, converted a shot through contact in the paint, drew a foul and converted the old fashioned three-point play on the coast-to-coast drive to trim the deficit to 25.
Adeyemi scored her first collegiate basket on a midrange jumper at the 1:51 mark after executing a screen and pop on the left side of the floor with Florvil. A little less than a minute later, Adeyemi caught the ball at the top of the key, drove towards the right block, drew a foul and converted both free throws.
With the victory, the Seawolves improve to 2-0. Stony Brook defeated Columbia by a score of 85-73 on Monday in its season opener behind 18 points each from Clark and G. Gonzalez.
The Dolphins drop to 0-3 and will battle their second nationally ranked opponent of the season on Monday when they pay a visit to the Trojans in Southern California.
More quotes from head coach
Mary Grimes:
"I think we're a better rebounding team than that, we're a lot tougher than we showed today. I think ultimately we have to score. We scored more than we have in the past two games, but we're getting wide open shots. It's not a lack of what we're calling or what we're doing. We just have to knock them down. Obviously, we want to at least get a little bit closer than this. There are things that we still have to work on offensively and defensively, but kudos to the team because we switched to man, and they were able to adjust a little bit better and defend."
"I think obviously (the team is) a little frustrated because we've had success in the past, but I told them at halftime this is not going to be easy. When we won last year it wasn't easy, so I think we're a little frustrated because we're used to winning but it's a mountain. We have to climb a mountain here. Whether we're Division I or Division I, winning is not easy. We just have to figure out how to score."
"We just have to embrace the challenge to be honest. Win or lose, we have to learn from every game. I think we've learned from this one, we've learned from the past two as well, and we've got to just keep on our mindset on the next game. We've got to prepare and get better at what we need to get better at, it doesn't matter the opponent."
On production from the bench: "They go at it every day in practice. They're battling and so we talked about when their number is called, whatever time they get, make the most of it."
