Tate's 29 Points Paces UAlbany Women's Basketball to 73-54 Win vs. Stony Brook for First Place in the America East
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ALBANY, N.Y. – Imani Tate netted 29 points as the UAlbany women's basketball team raced past Stony Brook 73-54 to seize sole control of first place in the America East.
UAlbany (15-3, 6-0 AE) and Stony Brook (13-6, 5-1 AE) were the final undefeated teams left in the America East. After a back and forth first quarter, UAlbany used a 17-4 burst in the second to earn a double digit lead, which it held the rest of the game.
“Everyone will talk about the offense, we talk about defense, that was the game plan,” said UAlbany head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson. “Brittany Snow did a nice job scoring, but we did a nice job defensively today.”
As a team, UAlbany outrebounded Stony Brook 38-22 and shot 52.4% from the field. The game lasted just one hour and 32 minutes, the fastest game of UAlbany's season.
Tate's 29 points off the bench were just four shy of her career-high. She shot 13-for-22 from the field (59%), adding three assists and four rebounds.
“In practice, we kept working on the one dribble pull-up, and it was really working today,” said Tate.
Shereesha Richards earned her eighth double-double of the year with 16 points and 10 rebounds. With 2,093 points, she passed Siena's Mary Gaudreau to become the Capital District's all-time collegiate women's basketball scoring leader.
Zakiya Saunders also notched a double-double, her fourth of the year, with a career-high 13 assists plus 10 points, adding three steals. Tiana-Jo Carter nearly had a double-double off 12 points, nine rebounds and two blocks.
For Stony Brook, Snow went 7-13 from the floor for 16 points. Ogechi Anyagaligbo was 7-8 on field goals with 14 points.
Stony Brook hit on its first two possessions to lead 5-2 early. The sides traded punches, with each going focusing on the paint. UAlbany took the lead with a couple of transition strikes from Richards and Saunders to go up 6-5.
After Tate came off the bench, she hit a jumper off a screen, followed by Richards hitting another layup. Stony Brook hit two straight in the paint to go up, then Carter hit a layup to send UAlbany up 12-11 after the first quarter.
After a Christa Scognamiglio three, a Carter put layup sparked UAlbany's surge forward. Following an Erin Coughlin three, Tate scored UAlbany's next six points, capped by a pair of jumpers on quick strikes. At 27-18, Saunders added two mid-range jumpers, then Tate put in a putback layup to complete the 17-4 run to make it 33-18 with 2:22 remaining in the 2nd.
In the final 32 seconds of the 2nd, Saunders stole the ball, threw the ball across the court to a sprinting Richards for the layup off the glass. Tate added a jumper at the first half buzzer to put UAlbany up 38-23 into the locker room.
Tate continued to be focus of the UAlbany attack, hitting the team's first two baskets, the second off a couple of stutter steps to shake a defender. Carter added a couple underneath the basket as UAlbany pushed to a 48-29 advantage with 5:15 left in the 3rd.
Snow hit a couple of one-hand floaters in the paint, the second on a putback, bringing the visitors within 15. Following an Elizabeth Manner layup to again pull Stony Brook within 15, UAlbany finished the quarter on a 6-1 spurt with baskets from three different players, including a turnaround jumper off the glass by Richards at the buzzer, to take a 58-38 lead after three.
Stony Brook started to hit its jumpers, including a couple from behind the arc, to counter UAlbany's mid-range baskets. With 5:30 left, Coughlin hit her second three from the top of the perimeter to put UAlbany's advantage at 20.
Only three field goals combined were scored in the final 4:26 of the game. UAlbany took the victory 73-54 over Stony Brook.
UAlbany will have a break with its next game being on Wednesday, January 27th at UMass Lowell.
