Maines Anita Kelava (pink) tries to win the tipoff against Stony Brooks Elizabeth Manner (red) to begin the game in their America East matchup Sunday afternoon at the Cross Insurance Center. Photo by Chris Lessner.
BANGOR, Maine- Sigi Koizar had a double double and scored 14 of her team high 21 points in the fourth quarter, and Tanesha Sutton nailed a huge three-pointer in overtime, as the Maine Black Bears outlasted the Stony Brook Seawolves 78-71 Sunday afternoon in America East action at the Cross Insurance Center in front of 2,306 fans.
Maine came out of the gates strong, building a 17-10 lead after the opening quarter, and a 22-10 lead early in the second. Stony Brook went on a 10-0 run to cut the lead to 22-20, but Maine still held a six point advantage at halftime 28-22.
The Seawolves came out running in the second half, scoring the first six points to tie the game 28-28. Kori Bayne-Walker scored eight of the first 10 points for Stony Brook in the quarter, and overall had 11 of her teams 22 points in the period. The visitors took their first lead of the game when Davion Wingate nailed a three-pointer to make it 36-35. Maine fought back and tied the game 44-44, headed to the fourth quarter.
Koizar, who was held to just five points over the first three quarters, went off in the fourth. After Stony Brook had built their biggest lead of the game at 55-51 with 4:53 left, Koizar scored 12 straight Maine points. The Koizar run culminated with a long three-pointer to give Maine a 63-60 lead with just 1:25 to play in regulation. “Sigi is such a great player. She played like a senior today, putting her team on her back while playing with younger players”, said Stony Brook head coach Caroline McCombs. Elizabeth Manner got Stony Brook back within one point with two free throws with 1:06 left. Sutton converted an unconventional three point play, off a Julie Brousseau three point miss, with a layup and free throw to make it 66-62 Maine with 41 seconds left. The Seawolves came right back though as Bayne-Walker scored and got fouled and made the free throw, to cut it to 66-65 with 36 seconds remaining. Sheraton Jones made 1 for 2 at the line to make it 67-65 with 22 seconds left. Stony Brook tied it when Christa Scognamiglio made a slicing layup down the lane with 8.8 seconds to play. Koizar had a chance to win it, and had a great open look down the lane, but came up empty as the final buzzer sounded, sending the game to overtime.
In the extra session, Maine scored nine of the first 11 points in the period after Bayne-Walker fouled out of the contest just a minute into overtime. The key shot was a three-pointer from Sutton, to give Maine a six point advantage on a nice assist by Koizar. Laia Sole made a layup, and Brousseau nailed a pair of free throws in the final 1:22 to nail down the 15th victory of the season for the Black Bears (15-13). Maine is now 8-5 in America East, and remain undefeated at home in conference play at 6-0.
Bayne-Walker tied her career high with also the game high of 25 points. She also added three assists, and three steals. Wingate finished with 19 points, five rebounds, and one steal. Stony Brook (10-15, 3-9 AE), have now lost seven of their last eight games. “We definitely played hard today, and played together. Definitely played better than we have in other conference games so far”, added Bayne-Walker. Stony Brook shot 34 percent from the floor in the game (including eight three pointers), 19-26 from the foul line, and only committed seven turnovers.
Koizar added 11 rebounds, two assists, and one block. Sutton tied a career-high in points finishing with 16, to go along with five rebounds, four assists, and a blocked shot. Brousseau added 11 points, and Sole had 10 points and five rebounds. Maine shot 49 percent from the floor (five three pointers), 13-17 from the foul line, and had 12 turnovers. “I was really proud of the kids. It was really a gutsy win. There were alot of times we got down and we could of hung our heads, but we definitely didn’t do that. I thought Sigi in the second half, we really rode her back for a while and she did it, and it was really great to see”, said Maine interim coach Amy Vachon. Koizar added, “Especially towards the end of the game, when its a close game, I really have to step up and make shots. Or at least be aggressive, or find someone that is open like Tanesha for that one shot”.
Maine will face first place and rival UNH at the Cross Insurance Center on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. The game can been seen live on ESPN 3.
SBU (10-15, 3-9) 10 12 22 23 4- 71
UME (15-13, 8-5) 17 11 16 23 11- 78
