On April 2, Caroline McCombs announced her departure as head coach of the Stony Brook women’s basketball team, weeks after leading the program to its first America East finals win and first NCAA Tournament appearance.
“We’re going to remember and reflect upon this season because we made history,” head coach Caroline McCombs said in a postgame press conference. “This is for all the women that have worn a Stony Brook jersey before.”
The Stony Brook women’s basketball team, who clinched the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance with an upset of Maine in the America East finals, drew a No. 14 seed when the bracket was unveiled on ESPN on Monday, March 15.
The Stony Brook women’s basketball team mounted an 11-point comeback to upset the top-seeded Maine Black Bears 64-60 in the America East Championship, clinching the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament berth.
The second-seeded Seawolves earned the chance to play No. 1 seed Maine in the America East finals with a 75-55 throttling of the UMass Lowell River Hawks this Sunday.
Playing the UMass Lowell River Hawks on Feb. 27, the Seawolves were brutalizing a team they had historically dominated (15-1), a team that had never won a conference playoff game before. After halftime, everything fell apart.
Even though this week’s series against Albany was ultimately meaningless, with the America East playoff bracket already set, the Seawolves easily swept the Great Danes in the process at home on Feb. 22 and 23.
The Stony Brook men’s basketball team was going to enter the America East Tournament. Although success from beyond the arc in a first game win offered hope that the team was turning a corner, the Seawolves could not carry it over to the second game.
