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STONY BROOK, N.Y. – Sydney Smith scored a game-high 13 points to lead the Vermont Catamounts, but the Stony Brook Seawolves used a strong first half effort to post a 60-38 victory in America East women's basketball action on Wednesday. Stony Brook improved to 8-7 overall and 1-1 in league play, while Vermont fell to 3-11 and 0-2 in the conference.
Smith, who scored 11 of her 13 points in the first half, went 3-for-7 from beyond the arc and added five rebounds.
Emilie Cloutier chipped in nine points and six rebounds, while
Niki Taylor contributed seven points and eight boards.
Kori Bayne-Walker paced the Seawolves with 12 points, 10 in the first half, six rebounds and six assists.
Smith's layup at the 14:17 mark of the first half cut the Stony Brook lead to three, 14-11. SBU responded with a 20-5 run over the next 10 minutes. A 3-pointer by Kristie Costantino capped the run and gave Stony Brook a 34-16 lead with 4:16 remaining in the half.
The Seawolves went to the locker room with a 38-19 advantage. SBU shot 53.3 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes, while Vermont was limited to 25 percent shooting in the stanza.
Stony Brook maintained its double-digit lead in the second half and moved to 7-1 at its new home, the Island Federal Credit Union Arena.
The Seawovles shot only 26.9 percent in the second half, but the Catamounts continued to struggle offensively and finished the game shooting 20.4 percent for the game.
Vermont continues America East play on Saturday (Jan. 10) at Binghamton. Tipoff at the Events Center is set for 12 p.m. The game can be heard on WVMT-620 AM (online:
SportsJuice.com) with Kevin Fitzgerald calling the action. The game will also be streamed online for free via
AmericaEast.tv.