By Nick Pipitone
Head coach Felisha Legette-Jack has talked all season about “pounding the floor,” one of the coach’s top priorities for Pride women’s basketball this season.
In the Pride’s, 92-65, win over area rival Stony Brook last night at the Arena, the team played some of its most inspired basketball of the year. In its first postseason appearance in program history, the Pride came out surging, starting the game with a 15-0 run and winning the preliminary round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament.
It will play Villanova in Philadelphia Saturday at 2 p.m. in the first round. The win gave the team its second-highest win total in Division I program history.
“You tell your kids to go to the edge and they go to the edge and their scared,” Legette-Jack said. “I think today we went to the edge and we said, ‘you know what, we’re just going to trust and believe and find out’.”
The Pride Scored a season-high 92 points, picking up its third largest win of the year. It was the best offensive output for the Pride since 1993.
It shot a blistering 61.8-percent from the field in the first half and 55.1-percent for the game, its third-highest of the season, while the Seawolves 32.8-percent, a point below its season average. The team outscored Stony Brook, 46-14, in the paint, playing a very physical game. It also out-rebounded the Seawolves, 49-30.
Stony Brook head coach Maura McHugh said the Pride were a much bigger team and played more physical then it throughout the game. At the five-minute mark in the first half, junior center Vanessa Gidden blocked Seawolves sophomore Cheri Davis emphatically.
The team’s shutdown defense would continue throughout the game.
“Our defense is our staple, that’s what we do,” Gidden said. “I think smacking the floor looks silly sometimes, but it gets you going. It lets the opponent know that you’re ready to play.”
After losing three of its last four games and falling to Old Dominion, 94-73, in the quarterfinals of the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament, the Blue & Gold led the Seawolves by 19 with 11:03 remaining in the first half.
The Seawolves outscored the Pride, 25-19, to end the half and draw the lead to within 13. But the team would not relent, starting the second half with a 13-5 half and then putting the game out of reach with an inspired 20-4 run from the 13:34 mark to 5:46.
Gidden finished with her 13th double-double of the season, scoring a game-high 22 points and grabbing 14 boards. Junior forward Lizanne Murphy added 18 points and nine rebounds, while shooting 7-9 from the field.
At the 10:35 mark of the second half, after a Seawolves foul, McHugh was charged with a technical after arguing with a referee. It was just that sort of day for Stony Brook and, conversely, that great of a day for the Pride.
“How fun was that guys?” Legette-Jack asked to start the press conference last night. “My babies are growing up and they’re just so much fun.”
Besides a solid defensive effort, the Pride had one of its most efficient offensive nights of the season, as it continues its best season since 1982-83, its first year as a Division I program.
The team will look to advance deeper into the tournament with a win over Villanova Saturday. As of right now, the Pride will need five more victories to garner its first championship in program history.