Marist women’s basketball struggled to find any kind of rhythm offensively as Stony Brook cruised to a 69-49 victory on Monday night.
The Red Foxes (2-2) entered tonight’s contest averaging 10.7 made 3-pointers per game, which was 14th in the NCAA, but found just four makes tonight on 12.1% shooting from deep. Junior guard Jackie Piddock led the way for Marist with 10 points, making her the only Red Fox in double-figures.
The Seawolves (3-1) had two 20+ point performers tonight in redshirt guard Breauna Ware and senior guard Zadia Gonzalez. Stony Brook they shot 48% from the field and 36% from long-range as a team in the win.
Freshman guard Danielle Williamsen, who has averaged 6.3 points per game on 35.7% shooting from three this season, was out tonight for the Red Foxes. Senior guard Catie Cunningham made her first start of the season in place of Williamsen and scored Marist’s first basket of the game.
The Seawolves broke out to an 11-0 run led by Gonzalez. Gonzalez delivered six points in the first four minutes and forced head coach Erin Doughty to take an early timeout.
Stony Brook kept their foot on the gas after the short break. Ware showcased her scoring ability with 12 points on 5-5 shooting from the field in the first quarter. The Seawolves used that first-quarter performance from Ware to extend their run 23-6 and go 15 after the opening ten minutes.
On the other hand, Marist struggled to get anything going on offense, committing seven turnovers during the first quarter, four of which came from junior center Morgan Lee. Stony Brook continuously double-teamed Lee in the paint, forcing her to make difficult passes each time she got a touch on offense.
The Red Foxes struggled to get shots to fall, going 1-10 on their first 10 attempts from deep. Redshirt junior guard Lexie Tarul faced difficulty on that front as well, going 1-9 from the field and 0-5 from long-range in the first half. Tarul entered the game averaging 13.7 points and 3.0 threes a game for the Red Foxes.
Stony Brook initially got into a bit of a slump on the shooting end to open up the second frame as well, but got it going late through Gonzalez and sophomore guard Chloe Oliver. The two combined for 11 points in the final five minutes of the half to put them up 40-19 advantage at the half.
Marist finished the half with 12 total turnovers, seven coming from Lee. They shot just 25.8 percent from the field and 6.7 percent from long range while the Seawolves shot 51.5 percent from the floor and 30.8 percent from distance.
Ware started the second half in another groove, providing back-to-back threes for Stony Brook to extend the lead to 25.
Lee attempted to get rolling in the third quarter with a couple of 3-point attempts but missed both of them. Lee gave the Red Foxes just two points on 1-9 shooting from the field and 0-5 from beyond the arc through the first three quarters.
Tarul managed to get a couple of shots to fall midway through the third quarter but Marist was still unable to develop any true offensive continuity. Oliver nailed her second three of the game at the buzzer to end the third quarter and give the Seawolves a 53-31 lead.
Lee finally got a three to go to open up the final frame and junior guard Jackie Piddock put in her second three of the game to give the Red Foxes a quick 9-3 burst. Stony Brook did not flinch though, as Gonzalez put together a 6-0 run on her own to put the Seawolves back up 22.
Marist applied a press in the final three minutes to force four Stony Brook turnovers, but it was too little too late for the Red Foxes. The two leading scorers for Marist, Tarul and Lee, combined for just 13 points–going 1-16 from beyond the 3-point line.
The Red Foxes will now look to hit the reset button before a road matchup on Thursday against St. John’s at 7 p.m.
Edited by Luke Sassa
Graphic by Jaylen Rizzo; Photo from Ricky Torres
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