Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
1-1
Stony Brook
1-1
Army Tops Stony Brook, 68-59, in Home Opener
November 18, 2014 | Women's Basketball
The Black Knights improve to 1-1 on the season, while the Seawolves drop to 1-1. After shooting under 35 percent from the floor against Quinnipiac on Nov. 15, Army was successful on 48.0 percent of its attempts Tuesday night. Stony Brook shot 46.8 on the evening, but was held to just 39.3 percent in the second half thanks to Army's defense.
Junior Kelsey Minato paced Army with 18 points and seven boards, while classmate Aimee Oertner came two points shy of her career high with 16 points. Oertner also added four rebounds, with all four coming on the offensive glass.
The Black Knights received contributions from a number of their starters early on, including points from three different players during the game's opening 2:49. Junior Jean Parker got things going with a three-pointer 50 seconds in to put Army ahead, 3-2, before jumpers from classmate Kelsey Minato and senior Olivia Schretzman gave the Black Knights a 7-6 advantage.
Junior Brianna Johnson buried a jumper with 11:42 remaining in the period to give Army its largest lead of the half at 16-11. Stony Brook responded as senior Jessica Ogunnorin capped a 14-6 run 4:24 later to give the Seawolves at 25-22 lead.
Back-to-back lay-ups from Johnson and sophomore Dani Failor put Army back up by one before Stony Brook closed the half with six consecutive points to include four straight free throws from senior Sabre Proctor, who finished the contest with a game-high 25 points on 8-of-13 shooting.
Stony Brook hit its first two shots of the second frame, including a three-pointer from Proctor, to extend its lead to nine at 36-27. Army answered with a 19-4 run to take a 44-40 lead during the ensuing 8:41, thanks to a 10-point contribution from Oertner. Oertner went 4-for-5 from the field during a span of 4:51 while also tallying two free throws and a pair of steals.
The Seawolves cut their deficit back to three by the 8:23 mark before Schretzman keyed a 7-0 run to extend Army's cushion to 10 points. The senior forward, who finished with 13 points on the night, accounted for five points during the stretch to give the Black Knights the game's first double-digit lead at 55-45.
“We put the schedule together to challenge this team and I was disappointed coming out of Saturday,” said Army head coach Dave Magarity. “We came out tonight and ran into a really good team. The first half was a battle and they took us apart on the inside. At halftime, we talked about being a little bit more intense and focused defensively. I thought our posts had a terrific second half. That's the best that we've played on the interior in a while.”
The visitors would only come as close as eight points over the last 4:56 as Army hit eight of its 10 free throws and went 2-for-3 from the floor down the stretch.
Army is back on the court on Saturday, Nov. 22, when the Black Knights travel to Manhattan for a 2 p.m. game before returning to Christl Arena to welcome service-academy rival Air Force on Nov. 25.
GAME NOTES: Army improves to 3-2 all-time against Stony Brook … Aimee Oertner netted 16 points to finish two shy of her career standard of 18 … Kelsey Minato tallied a team-high 18 points to extend her double-digit scoring streak to 51 games … Army received double-digit scoring from three players for the second game in a row … the Black Knights open the year 1-1 for the sixth straight season … Army unveiled a pair of banners prior to the game, commemorating its 2014 Patriot League Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance.
