ITHACA, N.Y. -- Freshman
Azareya Kilgoe was the star of the show for the Cornell women's basketball team (6-6, 0-0 Ivy), scoring a career-high 22 points on nine-of-13 shooting in an 81-56 loss to the Stony Brook Seawolves (10-1, 0-0 CAA) on Saturday afternoon from Newman Arena. Kilgoe's performance makes it the third-straight game that a Cornell athlete has either tied or scored a new career high, joining
Emily Pape's 27-point performance against Syracuse (Dec. 18) and
Kaya Ingram's 20-point showing against Marist (Dec. 21).
Kilgoe was not the only Big Red athlete in double-figures, as
Emily Pape netted 16 points and eight rebounds on seven-of-14 shooting from the field in the loss for the Big Red, which extends Cornell's losing streak to the Seawolves to three-consecutive battles.
Five Seawolves scored double figures in the win for Stony Brook, including 21 points from Khari Clark and 15 points apiece for Gigi Gonzalez and Zaida Gonzalez.
First Quarter
- Stony Brook won the opening tip and started out fast, jumping out to a 5-0 advantage. Cornell would break its scoring drought of over two minutes on a three from the top of the key by Azareya Kilgoe to make the score 5-3.
- Cornell's offensive woes continued after the Kilgoe three, as it went cold for almost four minutes, allowing Stony Brook to jump ahead by eight. Rachel Kaus stopped the skid for the Big Red, knocking down a tough jumper off a hot pass from teammate Kaya Ingram to cut the deficit to 11-5.
- Despite the small momentum swing, the Big Red offense went cold again for over two minutes until Emily Pape got on the board with her first bucket to cut the Seawolves lead back down to six. Vivienne Knee answered Pape's jumper with her first three-pointer of the afternoon after two Stony Brook free throws to knock the deficit back to five.
- The Seawolves would have the last laugh of the opening stanza, as Shamarla King sunk two free throws to give the visitors a 17-10 lead after ten minutes of action.
Second Quarter
- Pape got the scoring going for the Big Red in its second possession, knifing through the defense for a nothing-but-net floater followed by a Kilgoe layup through traffic to cut the deficit down to one possession at 17-14.
- The momentum would soon wear off as Stony Brook matched Cornell's 4-0 run with a 6-0 run with buckets from three different Seawolves to jump back up by nine. Cornell would eventually stop its scoring drought with an Ingram free throw, followed by Pape's third bucket of the afternoon to slice its deficit back down to six.
- Stony Brook continued to weather the storm of the potential Cornell runs, jumping out on an 8-1 scoring jump with three points coming from Sherese Pittman to jump out by 11.
- The Seawolves would extend its lead up to 13 with less than 0:30 left before Kilgoe slid through the red and blue defense for a floating jump shot before the buzzer sounded, putting Cornell behind 36-25 going into the halftime break.
Third Quarter
- Stony Brook netted the first points of the third stanza via the free throw before Kilgoe matched with her second driving layup of the evening to keep the deficit at 11.
- Cornell's offense looked like it was trending in the right direction after the back and forth, as Pape and Kaus netted consecutive buckets to push Stony Brook's lead below double figures. But the Seawolves offense woke up, bursting out with its largest run, outscoring the Big Red 17-2 over a five-minute span to grab its largest lead at 59-35.
- The Big Red offense would stay resilient over the final two minutes, as Kilgoe carried the weight with five of the Big Red's seven points to make it 65-42 after three quarters.
Fourth Quarter
- The final stanza started with a battle back and forth, as both teams traded two buckets each over about two minutes, with Parker-Hall and Kilgoe earning the points for Cornell.
- Stony Brook used the battle to its advantage, putting together another scoring run of the 7-1 variety to grab its biggest lead at 28. Cornell would not go down without a fight, going on an 8-4 run with Pape and Kilgoe splashing two jumpers into the hoop.
- Despite the late push, the deficit was too much for the Big Red, as Stony Brook cruised over the final two minutes and grab an 81-56 win.
Big Red Notables
- Freshman Azareya Kilgoe netted a new career-high 22 points in the loss, almost doubling her previous high of 12 from a 74-61 win over Marist on Dec. 21 in Newman Arena. Kilgoe's 22-point performance also makes it the third-consecutive game a Cornell athlete has scored 20 or more points.
- Sophomore Emily Pape now has five-straight games of 10 or more points scored since netting 20 in a 58-53 win over Bucknell on Dec. 2. It is also one off Pape's career-high of consecutive double-digit performances, as the Park Ridge, Ill. native had two stretches of six or more twice last season.
- Saturday's 41.8 percent shooting from the field also makes it the second time in the last five matchups that Cornell has hit that mark against the Seawolves.
Up Next
The Big Red commence the 2024 portion of its schedule when it welcomes Princeton for its Ivy League opener on Saturday, Jan. 6 at 2:00 p.m. from Newman Arena. Cornell will look to snap an eleven-game losing streak to the Tigers dating back to a 55-44 win in the Garden State on Feb. 25, 2017.