Stony Brook, N.Y. - Stony Brook University's women's basketball team cut an 11-point second half deficit to two but the Fordham Rams held on late for a 41-37 victory over the Seawolves on Sunday at Pritchard Gymnasium.
"Our defense and rebounding this afternoon was outstanding," Stony Brook head coach Beth O'Boyle said. "We just didn't make enough shots to win. But I'm really proud of the way our team competed for the full 40 minutes."
Senior Whitney Davis (Muskegon, Mich.) led Stony Brook with 10 points while junior Gerda Gatling (Woodbridge, Va.) had seven points and a career-high 13 rebounds including seven on the offensive end. Stony Brook held Fordham to 32.4 percent shooting and had 22 offensive rebounds as the Seawolves out-rebounded the Rams, 44-31.
The Rams led 33-22 following a Becky Peters hoop with 9:25 left but the Seawolves scored 11 of the next 13 points to cut the Fordham lead to 35-33 on a bucket from freshman Kellie Krueger (Wilsonville, Ore. with 1:09 remaining.
Emily Tapio drilled two free throws with 40 seconds left to push the Fordham lead back to four before Davis knocked down a jumper to cut the deficit back to two with 14 seconds to go.
Arielle Collins hit two free throws on the other end to make it 39-35 before Davis hit another jumper with 1.4 seconds left. But Collins hit two more free throws with six tenths of a second remaining to put the game away.
Collins and Charlotte Stoddart led the Rams with 10 points apiece.
Fordham jumped to a 6-4 lead as the Seawolves got early hoops from juniorDani Klupenger (Aurora, Ore.) and Krueger. But Fordham then held Stony Brook without a field goal for over 13 minutes as they took a 13-7 lead with under five minutes to go in the half.
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The Stony Brook defense kept SBU in the game, holding the Rams without a field goal for over six minutes at one point.
Davis broke the Stony Brook drought with back-to-back jumpers to bring SBU within two but Fordham scored the final four points of the half to take a six-point lead into the break.
SBU held Fordham to 26.3 percent shooting in the first half and out-rebounded the Rams, 24-15.
The Rams opened the second half strong, scoring seven of the first 10 points of the period to take a 10-point advantage. Junior Jessica Previlon(Brooklyn, N.Y.) answered with back-to-back hoops though to kick start an 8-2 run that cut the Fordham lead to 26-22.
But the Rams responded with seven straight points to take an 11-point midway through the half.
Stony Brook returns to action on Wednesday, traveling to take on FDU. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
