Box Score (PDF) | Interview

STONY BROOK, N.Y. – The UMass Lowell (3-19, 0-10) women's basketball team put up a fight, but ultimately dropped an America East clash to the Stony Brook Seawolves (15-8, 7-3), 60-46, on Saturday afternoon.

"I thought that Stony Brook did a really good job of playing aggressive and making plays down the stretch," said Head Coach Jenerrie Harris. "In the fourth quarter we gave up too many offensive rebounds and points in the paint. On the offensive side, we didn't have enough people crashing the boards and keeping pace, especially when we were down and trying to catch up."

Melissa Frase (Tamworth, N.H.) led the River Hawks with 13 points, and Lindsey Doucette (Hopkinton, Mass.) added 10. Lauren Parra (Islip, N.Y.) tied her career-high with 10 rebounds.

Behind strong defensive and rebounding efforts, the River Hawks held an 8-0 lead heading into the first media timeout of the afternoon with 3:13 left in the opening quarter. UMass Lowell held the Seawolves to an 0-for-10 start, and Parra collected seven of the misses.

Stony Brook's Christa Scognamiglio ended the drought with the first three-pointer of the game with just over two minutes on the clock. Elizabeth Manner connected on a three of her own to cut the deficit to 8-6 with under a minute to play.

The River Hawks opened the second quarter with four points from Oda Shackelford (Edinburgh, Ind.), but Stony Brook responded with a 5-0 spurt to take a 16-12 advantage with 5:13 remaining in the half. Kayla Gibbs (Teaneck, N.J.) got UMass Lowell back on the scoreboard with a traditional three-point play to get the visitors with 16-15.

The teams traded baskets over the remaining 3:47 and Stony Brook took a 19-17 with 98 seconds remaining in the first half. Katherine Smith (Fort Wayne, Ind.) hit a pair of free throws and Frase sliced through the defense to knot up the score at 21-21. The Seawolves' Brittany Snow hit one free throw with 28 seconds on the clock to send the teams into halftime with the hosts holding a 22-21 upper hand.

Doucette and Frase dropped a quick five points for the River Hawks in the second half to propel the guests in front 26-24, but Stony Brook notched six points in less than 90 seconds to go ahead 30-26.

After Stony Brook opened up its largest lead at 32-26, Frase drained a pull up three, and Doucette buried a midrange jumper to pull the River Hawks within 32-31. Aailyah Worley extended the Seawolves' upper hand to 35-31, but Doucette converted on a spin move to have UMass Lowell trailing 35-33 heading into the media timeout.

Gibbs knotted the score at 35-35 with 2:18 on the clock, but Stony Brook used a 6-0 run and a buzzer-beater from Snow to enter the final quarter on top, 43-37.

UMass Lowell climbed back within 45-43 with just over seven minutes to play in regulation, then Frase drained a deep triple to close the gap to 47-46. The Seawolves' never relinquished the lead and outscored the River Hawks 13-0 down the stretch to ice the game.

Snow led all scorers with 16 points, and Scognamiglio chipped in 12 and nine rebounds, with three assists.

Both teams were about even from the floor, UMass Lowell shot 39.6 percent (19-48) while Stony Brook shot at a 40.4 percent (23-57) clip.

The River Hawks have a short turnaround, as they travel to Vermont to take on the Catamounts on February 8 at 7 p.m.