STONY BROOK, N.Y. – Junior guard Kharis Idom (Orlando, Fla) collected her tenth double-digit performance of the season, but it was not quite enough as Stony Brook held off the UMass Lowell women's basketball for a 75-55 win in the 2021 Hercules Tires America East semifinals Sunday afternoon at the IFCU Arena.
 
The River Hawks made it an 11-point game at 62-51 on a three from sophomore Jaliena Sanchez (Springfield, Mass.) with just over five minutes to go, but were unable to come any closer.
 
"It was a hard-fought game," commented head coach Tom Garrick. "We made a couple of solid runs, but we expanded a lot of energy in doing so. Ultimately, we weren't able to counter punch when Stony Brook fought back. As much as I'm disappointed in the loss, I'm extremely proud and happy of our team to be at this point."
 
Idom shot 6-for-18 from the field, adding two assists and one steal. Sophomore Denise Solis (Windsor, Conn.) totaled 13 points and matched her game high of three blocks, while Sanchez chipped in 10 points and two steals. Senior Linda Svenne (Riga, Latvia) snagged a team-high six boards and a season-best five assists.
 
Stony Brook registered the first points of the day until Idom put the River Hawks on the board with a floater of her own. However, the home team quickly responded with nine unanswered to create an early, 11-2 advantage. Svenne snapped almost four minutes of scoreless action for UMass Lowell with a triple, sparking an 12-4 spurt for the visiting team that cut the difference to 15-14 by the end of the first quarter.
 
The Seawolves were able to stretch their lead back with nine of the opening 11 points of the second quarter. Svenne would find Solis under the hoop for the River Hawks' second field goal at 6:06, but SBU created a double-digit margin, 36-22, riding back-to-back triples at the buzzer.
 
UMass Lowell's offense went to work coming out of halftime, as Solis and Sears scored the first buckets of the third. Stony Brook regained the momentum, though, using a 8-2 run to extend their margin, 46-28, at 6:05. A three-point play from Idom and back-to-back layups from Solis and freshman Jaini Edmonds (Worcester, Mass.) cut the difference back to 13 inside the final minute of the period before the Seawolves knocked down a shot of their own, to hold a 55-40 lead into the final frame.
 
The home squad was able to extend its margin to 20 in the opening minutes of the fourth. The Seawolves would maintain at least a 18-point buffer until Idom scored on back-to-back triples followed by a Sanchez three of her own, cutting the difference to 62-51 with 5:08 left.
 
However, Stony Brook tallied 10 of the final 12 points to seal the decision, 75-55.
 
UMass Lowell closes out the 2020-21 season with a 12-9 overall record.