Stony Brook women win their first America East championship
Stony Brook guard Anastasia Warren dribbles the ball up court against UMass Lowell during a women's basketball game at Island Federal Arena on Jan. 5, 2018. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Stony Brook women won their first America East title on Wednesday night, rallying for a hard-fought 72-68 win over host Vermont.
The Seawolves, owners of the nation's longest winning streak at 22 games, are 13-0 in the America East and 25-1 overall.
But they had to work for this one. Vermont, which was just 6-7 in the league coming into the game, pushed Stony Brook to the limit and held the lead for virtually the entire game. The Catamounts were up by nine points during the third quarter.
But the Seawolves ran off 10 straight points to gain a one-point edge. It was Anastasia Warren's three-pointer with 2:04 remaining that put the Seawolves up 68-66. She followed that up with two free throws for a four-point lead.
Vermont closed to 70-68, but Kaela Hilaire's two free throws with two seconds left iced the victory and the conference title.
Warren led the Seawolves with 22 points, Hilaire had 17 and India Pagan had 11.
"Our team has worked really hard," coach Caroline McCombs said. "They know that it's another step in the process. They deserve it, but we're not done. We just want to finish what we started."
Stony Brook has been the conference regular-season runner-up three times in its Division I history, most recently in the 2013-14 season.
