November 13th, 2015: Iona at Stony Brook

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Stony Brook overcame early turnover issues to come away with a 58-53 home win against Iona. Kori Bayne-Walker led the Seawolves with 14 points; Stony Brook also got 13 points from Christa Scognamiglio and 12 points and 10 boards from Brittany Snow. Iona's Marina Lizarazu led all scorers with 21 points.

For fumbles, missed opportunities, fantastic bands, so very many trains, souvenirs, shiny things, new favorites, and wind, join your intrepid and anachronic blogger after the jump.


We are never going to Stony Brook again.

That's nothing against the town, or the school, or the facilities. We haven't even made it there yet. LIRR is ridiculously expensive and I refuse to pay those prices ever again.

That being said, the food is good (we went to a place called The Bench, right after the Iona team meal, and got to say hi to their bus) and the facility still has that new arena smell from the heavy internal renovations. It's a bit confusing to get around, and I'm not a fan of putting suites that low in the building. But it's really nice otherwise.

No, Iona, don't do this to me, why is Aaliyah Robinson not dressed, please let A-Rob be okay, please. NOT MY FAVORITE DAMNIT

Of course Stony Brook's band knows Billy Joel. It's like we're out on the Island or something.

What is with Stony Brook's penchant for fearsome and/or terrifying names? You've had a Sabre, you have Bayne-Walker (which phonetically sounds like an awesome horror series) and now you have a Skaro. If she starts screaming "EXTERMINATE" we all run.

I think Stony Brook's band has too many Yankee fans in it. They're doing roll call in time with the test of the graphics system. It fits better in the college system, but as a Mets fan, I'm obligated to mock Yankee things.

Kiddy anthem. I've heard worse kids.

At halftime, Stony Brook is up 29-23, and if neither team hits 58 I'm declaring them both losers and giving Bryant the win, because this has just been bad basketball. Stony Brook is turning the ball over like crazy, while Iona is turning the ball over and making absolutely no sense. I don't understand Iona's offense. I don't understand Iona's rotations. I don't understand why Iona is trying to turn an athletic rebounder who's at her best scoring off boards and down low into a small forward and having her shoot from the outside when she shoots. I don't understand anything.

But I really like Stony Brook's band. What they do with the student section is what we're trying to do in section 2 at St. John's- bring the noise, get good call and response going.

That game got fun for a while, but in the end, Iona couldn't buy a basket and Stony Brook could seal the deal with free throws and defense. The pedant in me thinks it might have been easier for them to buy a basket if they sent the right people to the store, but I recognize my biases and attempt to either work around them or acknowledge them so that others may recognize and take them into account.

Iida Ahvenainen came out shooting, but didn't come out hitting. She was first off the bench in the first half, but didn't play in the second half. I understand why. Philecia Gilmore is doing her best to become my new favorite, though not for her play on the court. She's passionate, she's intense, she's loud, and she has presence beyond her years on the bench. She didn't have a great game on the court, but on the bench she reminds me of Erin Thorn, and I can already see her as a coach in the future. (Yes, I'm thinking specifically of the years Erin suffered through Pat Coyle.)

I really like Ashley Murray's hustle. She sacrifices her body on defense to draw charges, and she's not afraid to bang. I think I'd like to see her be more of an offensive option, but then again, I don't know what the offensive options are, so. Aurellia Cammock got a couple of big boards in the second half, but she's got to hold on to the ball, she's got to be more careful with her body, and she's got to finish plays.

Alexis Lewis certainly isn't afraid to shoot. I'm sure there will be days when I think this is a good thing. This was not one of those nights. I like her intensity and her passion, but I don't know if she's ready to start yet. Marina Lizarazu set the nets on fire in the first half; in the second half, she seemed to fall back into old habits of endless dribbling left and stalling the offense. Stop being afraid of action! Good things happen when there is action!

Treyanna Clay intrigues me. You can see how raw she is, but you can see that there's potential there. I don't know if she's ready for the big time yet, but I like her fearlessness. She's got good instincts- she just needs to hone them. Karynda DuPree is right back to that style of play that makes me want to tear my hair out: she stands and stares at rebounds, she's careless with the ball, she's taking deep threes at angles she's not good from. She'll have moments, especially on the defensive glass, where she looks aggressive and plays with the strength of that solid frame. And then she goes back to half-speed. Joy Adams seems to be wedged into a three-hole that her style of play doesn't suit. She's a phenomenal athlete who's best running the break and close to the basket off rebounds. Why she's being set up for threes is utterly beyond me, and I think it's affecting her game both physically and mentally (though her catching ability has never been great, she's being called upon for more dribbling than usual, and her handle is not that great). She missed a couple of shots late that she should have had.

I realized what the Joy-at-the-three experiment reminds me of: when Bill Laimbeer tried to convert Toni Young from 4 to 3. Joy's a little bit smarter than Toni, and definitely has a better work ethic, but it's still trying to hammer a square peg into a round hole.

Kim Hanlon came up with some big plays at the end of the game, icing the deal at the line and making the big steal. She seems like a solid, heady player. Davion Wingate came in for an offensive boost, with mixed results. She's got some moves. Alyssa Coiro coordinated the defense when she was in, and seemed to be a leader on the floor.

A lot of people at Stony Brook and in the America East are going to be annoyed with this team, because they're going to have to spell Ogechi Anyagaligbo a lot, because she's very, very good. She had a big swat to help seal the game for Stony Brook late, and she's got good moves in the lane. I really like her and her potential. Brittany Snow played well down low. She was phenomenal on the offensive boards, with some help from her teammates keeping balls alive.

Jerell Matthews got the start, but didn’t play a lot (I think this is part of why I lost track of the rotations a little in this game). She was mostly out on the perimeter. Kori Bayne-Walker moves deceptively gracefully for a woman of her very broad build. Sometimes it works for her; sometimes it definitely doesn't. On a night when the officials are calling block/charge pell-mell, it doesn't work. Christa Scognamiglio hit a couple of big buckets late in the first half, after the first time Iona took a lead behind Marina. She's got nice touch.

Stony Brook's announcer seems to relish long, complex last names, much as Mike W. does for the Liberty and the Knicks. I love it.

The officials got kind of inconsistent about block/charge in this one- in the first half, everything was a charge, but in the second half, everything became a block. I think this crew might have been confused about the presence of both the men's and the women's circles on the court. I think the rules committee should look at that.

Stony Brook does postgame autographs after every game, and since our train didn't leave for another forty minutes, it seemed like a good use of our time to get on line. They were all really nice, but someone needs to talk to administration about getting better and/or more markers. Poor Anyagaligbo got stuck with one that was drying out.

All in all, my biggest problem with Stony Brook is the same problem I had with the Prudential Center: it's a beautiful arena, with great atmosphere, all the necessary amenities, transit nearby, good food in the area, a team that can be fun to watch... but it's just too far away to be realistic for me.

The problems I have with Iona, however, run deeper.