No. 1 Stony Brook Advances to CAA Title Game; Defeats No. 4 North Carolina A&T 59-51
Hunter Peters
CHAMP CENTRAL | BOX SCORE | HIGHLIGHTS | PHOTO GALLERY | STONY BROOK PRESSER | NORTH CAROLINA A&T PRESSER
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 16, 2024) – Three-point shooting, and second half defense led top-seeded Stony Brook to a 59-51 victory over fourth-seeded North Carolina A&T in the semifinals of the CAA Women’s Basketball Championship presented by Primis on Saturday afternoon at the Entertainment & Sports Arena in Washington, D.C.
The Seawolves (27-3) advance to the CAA Championship game for the first time in program history – their first conference title game appearance since 2021. Stony Brook will face the winner of Saturday’s second semifinal between No. 6 Towson and No. 7 Drexel at 2 p.m. on Sunday. North Carolina A&T falls to 20-11 after the setback and awaits a potential postseason berth.
Khari Clark paced Stony Brook with 14 points, and
Victoria Keenan provided the spark off the bench with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting with five rebounds. Additionally,
Gigi Gonzalez scored eight of her nine in the fourth quarter to close out the victory for the Seawolves.
Chaniya Clark recorded her second straight double-double, posting 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
D’Mya Tucker joined in double figures with 13 points, adding seven boards and four steals.
Stony Brook shot 36.4 percent from behind the arc, knocking down eight trey-balls while limiting North Carolina A&T to three makes and 14.3 percent shooting from distance. In addition, the Seawolves clamped down on defense in the second half, holding the Aggies to 21.6 percent (8-37) shooting overall after halftime.
Clark got the Aggies going with a three from the corner on the opening possession, prompting a 7-0 run for A&T out of the gate. Three straight makes for Stony Brook, including a step back three and fastbreak layup from Keenan on consecutive possessions, brought the Seawolves even, 10-10, at the media timeout. Five straight points from
Zaida Gonzalez gave Stony Brook its first lead, 17-14, before taking a one-point advantage into the second.
The Seawolves ended the second quarter on a 6-0 run over the final 3:45 to take a 32-28 lead into the break. Keenan had the final five points during the spurt to give Stony Brook the halftime lead. The back-and-forth battle continued throughout the frame, with four ties and five lead changes. A&T regained the lead, 24-22, after six straight points. Subsequently, the teams traded a spree of four straight points before the final SBU rally.
Zaida Gonzalez hit a triple with 19 seconds remaining in the third quarter, extending the Stony Brook advantage to 45-38 entering the fourth. The trifecta was the difference in the period as the Seawolves pushed the lead to double digits (40-30) after a 6-0 spurt, but A&T cut the deficit back to four (42-38) before the trey.
After just one point prior to the fourth quarter, Gigi Gonzalez showed her clutch gene, scoring eight of Stony Brook’s 14 over the final 10 minutes. A&T opened the scoring in the frame, but back-to-back treys and a pair of free throws from Gonzalez pushed the SBU lead to 53-42. The Aggies made one final push, cutting it to six, 53-47, with 2:35 remaining, but it was as close as they would get.
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