THE BASICS:

RESULT: #3 Stony Brook 60, #6 Hartford 42
RECORDS: Hartford (11-19); Stony Brook (17-13)
LOCATION: The Events Center (Vestal, N.Y.)
ATTENDANCE: TBD

THE LEAD:

The University of Hartford women's basketball team was unable to hold off third-seeded Stony Brook on Saturday afternoon, as it dropped a 60-42 decision to the Seawolves in the quarterfinal round of the 2016 America East Championship. Freshman Jalay Knowles registered a career high in scoring as she joined sophomore Janelle Harrison with a team-best 12 points.

Brittany Snow scored 20 points, including 11 in the third quarter, to lead three Seawolves in double figures. Christa Scognamiglio added 14 points while Ogechi Anyagaligbo contributed a double-double behind 10 points and 10 boards. Stony Brook shot 57.9 percent from the floor and made five three-pointers to hold a 29-14 advantage at the half.

FIRST HALF:
The Hawks and Seawolves exchanged blows to open up the quarterfinal matchup, as Stony Brook extended a one-point edge to four (8-4) behind an Aaliyah Worley three-pointer with 5:52 left. A jumper from Knowles in the next possession closed the Hawks' deficit back down to two, but the Seawolves responded by crafting a 5-0 run to go ahead, 13-6, at the 1:23 mark of the first. Scognamiglio accounted for each of those five points, delivering her first of two triplse to start the spurt.

Trailing by a 13-8 count at the end of the first, the Hawks' offense went cold for the opening portion of the second quarter. Held to just two points – a pair of Knowles free throws – the Seawolves rallied for another spurt to push their lead into double digits for the first time in the afternoon. A 14-2 run fueled by a trio of three-pointers made it a 27-10 advantage in favor of Stony Brook with 4:20 left to play. The Hawks managed to trim their deficit down to 15 before the end of the half as Harrison provided the team's first field goal of the quarter with 3:28 remaining before sophomore Mary Pattison countered a bucket from Snow with a runner to make it a 29-14 game at the break.

SECOND HALF:
Out of the break, Hartford's offense started to roll as Harrison heated up from the field. With her team trailing, 33-16, with 6:48 left in the third, the sophomore scored each of the Hawks' next six points to close the gap to 34-22 with 4:58 remaining. Freshman Lindsey Abed kept Hartford's offense going and made it a nine point game with a three-pointer – her team's first of the afternoon – but the Seawolves would again pull away as they went on to score eight of the quarter's last 12 points to lead, 42-29.

The opening minutes of the fourth quarter sealed the game for Stony Brook. The Seawolves opened the stanza with nine unanswered points to put the contest out of reach at 51-29 with 5:56 left to play. The Hawks did rally in the closing minutes, though. Over the final three minutes, Hartford put together a 10-2 spurt with back-to-back buckets by Knowles and a three-pointer from senior Christie Michals to provide the final score of 60-42.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• Stony Brook was hot from three-point land in the first, as pushed its lead into double digits by making five of its first six attempts from long range.
• Harrison added a team-high six rebounds to her 12 points.
• In 12 minutes off the bench, Knowles shot 4-for-7 and added a 4-for-4 effort from the charity stripe to finish with 12 points.
• The Hawks matched a season-best effort in turnovers with nine, while forcing the Seawolves into 16 on the other end.
• Eleven of Hartford's points came off of Stony  Brook's miscues.
• The Seawolves shot 63 percent from three in the opening half and went 57.9 percent (11-of-19) from the floor during that spurt.
• Overall, Stony Brook converted on 55.0 percent of its field goals (22-of-40), including a 52.4 percent clip from three (11-of-21).
• Snow accounted for all but two of the Seawolves' 13 points in the third quarter. She finished with a game-best 20 points while Scognamiglio (14) and Anyagaligbo (10) also scored in double figures.

 
COACH RIZZOTTI SAID:
"We are obviously disappointed. We came up to the tournament with high hopes that we can click and play some good basketball here. We knew we had some hurdles to overcome with our experience – we didn't have a whole lot of people in the starting lineup or on our roster that played last year when we won those two games – but I think the feeling was that it was still Hartford, and we were still capable of being a team that is tough to beat. The seniors have made such a huge impact on our program, and they have been so committed to the team, even when they didn't, or couldn't, play. Having two freshmen starting in the backcourt, I am proud of the way that our team has handled obstacles and got us to the point where we were one game away from third place in the conference."

NEWS & NOTES:

• Hartford loses three seniors – Christie Michals, Mallory Shickora and Katelyn Skinner – to graduation.
• All five starters return to the court, including America East All-Conference Third Team pick Lee and All-Rookie Team selection Abed.