Le Moyne women’s basketball falls to Stony Brook in non-conference clash

Stony Brook, N.Y. – The Le Moyne College women’s basketball team suffered a 53-43 defeat against Stony Brook on Thursday evening in non-conference action at Stony Brook Arena.The Dolphins erased a 10-point halftime deficit and took their first lead of the game with 8:03 remaining in the fourth quarter following a 23-7 second-half run, but the Seawolves closed the contest on a 17-4 run to register their first win of the season in their home opener.Senior guard Mia Yanogacio (Somerset, N.J./Rutgers Prep/Delaware) led Le Moyne in scoring with a career-high 12 points, graduate forward Haedyn Roberts (Holland Patent, N.Y./Holland Patent) tallied 11 points, eight rebounds, three assists and a career-high tying three blocks in 36 minutes played, while graduate guard Megan Bodziony (Wakefield, R.I./St. Andrew’s School/Fordham/Bryant) added 10 second-half points, a career-high tying eight rebounds, including a career-high four offensive rebounds, and a steal.Freshman guard Eli Clark (Oakhurst, N.J./Ocean Township) contributed five points, three rebounds and two assists for the Dolphins, and senior guard Emily Florvil (Brooklyn, N.Y./Nazareth) pulled down five rebounds in addition to two steals and a field goal.“…we responded in a big way (in the second half),” said Le Moyne head coach Nick DiPillo. “They bounced back, they battled. That was a big, long, athletic, experienced Stony Brook team. I’m proud of the way we fought. It wasn’t always pretty, we started I think 2-for-18 in the first quarter, which isn’t going to really win you many games. But we battled and we fought our way back and we held the lead and we gave ourselves a chance.“It’s been a heck of a trip,” DiPillo said of the team’s season-opening road swing from Stanford to Stony Brook. “We’ve grown together, we’ve learned a lot about each other. I think when push comes to shove, as we go through the course of the season, we’re going to be able to look back on some of the lessons learned here and be a lot better for it.”Senior guard Zaida Gonzalez led Stony Brook in scoring with a game-high 20 points on 6-22 shooting from the field and 7-9 from the free-throw line to go along with eight rebounds.Redshirt freshman forward Dallysshya Moreno pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds for the Seawolves, while sophomore Janay Brantley tallied five points, eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block in a game-high 37 minutes played.Stony Brook collected 47 rebounds and shot 19-25 from the free-throw line to earn the first career victory for new head coach Joy McCorvey.Le Moyne went 5-8 from the line and held the advantage in paint points by a tally of 24-18. The Dolphins committed 16 turnovers compared to 14 for the Seawolves.With her fourth rebound on Thursday, Roberts moved to 23rd on the Le Moyne women’s basketball career rebounding list.Stony Brook recorded the first three made field goals during Thursday’s contest to jump out to an 8-0 lead. Yanogacio knocked down a three-pointer at the 6:42 mark to get the Dolphins on the board.Stony Brook took a 14-3 lead following a layup from Lauren Filien with 3:06 left in the opening period, then Clark knocked down a triple for the Dolphins with under a minute remaining to cut Le Moyne’s deficit to eight after 10 minutes of action.An and-one layup from sophomore guard Zhara Adeyemi (Brooklyn, N.Y./South Shore) with 4:38 left in the second period made it 18-14 in favor of the Seawolves.Stony Brook extended its lead back out to 11 points with under a minute remaining following free throws from Moreno and Gonzalez, and a layup from Moreno.A drive and score from Florvil with 45 seconds remaining in the second made it 25-16, then Stony Brook graduate guard Shamarla King scored the final point of the half with a free throw with 20 seconds remaining.Stony Brook took its largest lead of the game following a three-pointer from redshirt sophomore guard Breauna Ware at the beginning of the third quarter, but Le Moyne clawed their way back, shooting 7-13 from the field during the penultimate period and outscoring Stony Brook 17-7 during the final nine minutes of the frame to trim their deficit to 36-33 heading into the fourth. Roberts tallied seven of her points during the third quarter, while Yanogacio chipped in six points.Bodziony scored the final field goal of the third, then began the fourth quarter on a personal 6-0 run to put the Dolphins in front, 39-36.Stony Brook took back the lead with consecutive layups from Gonzalez and Brantley, then Gonzalez knocked down a three-pointer at the 4:07 mark to give the Seawolves a 43-39 advantage.A layup from King with 3:32 left in the game made it a 9-0 run for Stony Brook, then Roberts answered with a field goal in the paint during Le Moyne’s next possession.Gonzalez continued her stellar fourth quarter with a jumper at 2:06, then converted an old-fashioned three-point play with 1:39 left to make it 49-41 in favor of the Seawolves.Bodziony scored Le Moyne’s last field goal with 1:05 on the clock, then Gonzalez and Ware knocked down two free throws to ice the game for Stony Brook.The Le Moyne College women’s basketball team will return to action Sunday for its home opener against Rhode Island at noon.