STONY BROOK, N.Y. - The Monmouth University women's basketball team won its third straight game, defeating Stony Brook University, 74-60 on Tuesday evening at Pritchard Gym in nonconference action. This marks the third time this season that the Hawks (4-2) have scored 70+ points, while they held the Seawolves (2-3) to almost 16 points below their season scoring average of 75.8.
"Our games at Maryland and Marquette gave us an opportunity to grow as a team," said Monmouth head coach Stephanie V. Gaitley. "We have a lot of balance and we've shown an ability to score early this season. I thought tonight showed a great overall defensive effort and a mixed and balanced scoring output."
Erin Rooney (Christchurch, N.Z. /Marian College) led the way for MU with 16 points, hitting 3-of-4 from three-point range, to pace four Hawks in double figures. Alysha Womack (Springfield, Pa. /Cardinal O'Hara) contributed 13 points (6-for-6 FT), while Abby Martin (Maplewood, N.J. /Columbia) logged her fifth career double-double, and her first this season, with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Gena Broadus (Washington, D.C. /Archbishop Carroll [George Mason]) added 11 points and nine rebounds for the Hawks to round out their double-digit scorers.
MU held an early 7-5 lead, paced by a Rooney traditional three-point play with just over 17 minutes left in the opening half. The Hawks' lead grew to 18-9 with 10:39 remaining in the opening half behind a three-pointer from Carly Thibault (East Lyme, Conn. /East Lyme) and a jumper from Gabby Singer (Harrisburg, Pa. /Central Dauphin), both assisted by Martin.
Back-to-back triples from classmates Womack and Rooney gave Monmouth a 28-15 advantage with 5:33 left before halftime. The Blue and White maintained its double-digit lead, taking a 37-24 advantage into halftime behind 5-of-9 shooting from three-point range in the first half.
Rooney led the way with 14 first-half points, adding three assists, while Womack added seven points and four rebounds. Martin contributed six points and seven rebounds in the first 20 minutes.
Thibault swished home a three-pointer to push Monmouth's lead to 53-35 with 13:01 left in the game. Broadus and Adriana Allen (Ajax, Ont. /Pickering) each converted back-to-back fast break lay-ups to push the Hawks' lead to 67-47 with 5:06 left in the game.
Thibault and Allen each added six points, while Alexis Canady (Forestville, Md. /Bishop McNamara) had five points, six rebounds and four assists in the game. MU hit 6-of-14 from three-point range, converted 18-of-26 free throws and outrebounded the Seawolves, 46-37.
Kirsten Jeter led Stony Brook, which shot 37.7% for the game, with a game-high 18 points and nine rebounds.
Monmouth returns to action on Sunday when it hosts Columbia at the Multipurpose Activity Center at 3:00 pm.
