Stony Brook, N.Y. – Junior Dani Klupenger (Aurora, Ore.) scored a career-high 16 points but the George Mason Patriots went on a 26-6 game-ending run to rally for a 54-50 win over the Stony Brook University women’s basketball team on Monday night in the Seawolves home opener at Pritchard Gymnasium. “For stretches tonight, we played very well on both ends of the floor,” Stony Brook head coach Beth O’Boyle said. “We’re getting better as a team, we just have to learn how to finish games. Give credit to George Mason, they executed down the stretch and we didn’t. But we’ll learn from it, come back and practice hard tomorrow and get ready for a solid Robert Morris team on Wednesday.”
Klupenger went 5-for-10 from three and was named Stony Brook’s America East Player of the Game. Junior Jessica Previlon (Brooklyn, N.Y.) added nine points and six rebounds and freshman Kellie Krueger (Wilsonville, Ore.) chipped in with eight points.
Stony Brook led 44-28 with 11:12 left following Klupenger’s fourth three of the game. But the Patriots went on a 15-2 run over the next five minutes to cut the SBU lead to 46-43.
Previlon hit one of two free throws with 4:14 left to push the lead back to four but George Mason answered with five straight points, going ahead 48-47 on a jumper from Rahneeka Saunders with 1:41 to go. It was the Patriots first lead of the game.
Stony Brook then turned it over on its next two possessions as Mason pushed its lead to 52-47 with 28 seconds left. Klupenger hit a three with two seconds left to make it 52-50 but Taleia Moton knocked down two free throws on the other end to seal the game for the Patriots.
George Mason was held to 36.8 percent shooting in the first half by the Seawolves but shot 50 percent from the field in the second half. Stony Brook out-rebounded George Mason, 36-31 and went 7-for-14 from three.
The Seawolves opened the game strong, scoring nine of the first 11 points. Mason got within 15-12 with 7:50 left but SBU ended the half on a 14-7 run to take a 29-19 lead into the break.
The teams traded hoops over the first four minutes of the second half before a bucket from senior Whitney Davis (Muskegon, Mich.) kick started an 11-5 Stony Brook spurt that gave the Seawolves the 44-28 lead.
Stony Brook returns to action on Wednesday, hosting Robert Morris at Pritchard Gymnasium. Game time is set for 2 p.m
