Monmouth Hawks WBB Falls to Stony Brook on Sunday

WEST LONG BRANCH -- Kaci Donovan led the Hawks charge with 18 points over the weekend when Monmouth University Women's Basketball hosted Stony Brook University. The Hawks ultimately fell to the Seawolves visiting from Long Island with a final score of 78-62. This puts Stony Brook at 8-1 in conference play, while the Hawks drop to 6-3 tied with Charleston.

The Hawks demonstrated exceptional preparation for this game starting out with a 14-4 lead before the Seawolves caught their groove and ended the first period with Monmouth up by one, 16-15.

The Hawks rebalanced their attack in the first half of second period, but similar to the first, gave up a serious run to end the period and went into halftime down 37-31. The second half did not start kindly for the Hawks where Stony Brook broke open the game off the hot hand of Khari Clark who scored a career high 30 points for the Seawolves. The third period ended with Stony Brook up 68-43, which was enough juice that Monmouth's 19-10 fourth period put no real threat on Stony Brook losing the game.

Stony Brook had three players in double digits, led by Clark with 30 points, Sherese Pittman with 18 points and Gigi Gonzalez with 17 points and 5 assists.

The bright spot all season for the Hawks has been the exceptional play of Kaci Donovan who is averaging 13.1 points per game, but missing from action recently has been Senior Guard Ariana Vanderhoop who had been averaging double digit points earlier in the season, but ended this game with four points. The opposing defenses have found ways to limit Vanderhoop's effectiveness, and for the Hawks to make a serious run in the CAA, the balanced system of Donovan, Vanderhoop, Exanor, Kranbuhl and Farrelly is a recipe for success.

The difference in the Hawks early 14-4 lead versus the multiple runs put together by Stony Brook was the on floor communication and timely passes. As the pressure mounted, the Hawks began forcing more situations which did not bode well for the final result.

Monmouth travels to Boston on Friday to play Northeastern (8-11) before returning to West Long Branch on Sunday for Taylor Swift Day versus Delaware (8-13) at OceanFirst Bank Center.

Monmouth Hawks vs Stony Brook Seawolves Feb, 5 2024 Photos by Bryant Ho