Nov. 22, 2005

Box Score

RIVERDALE, NY - Despite a career-high 21 points from sophomore guard Chelsey Bunyer (Shannon, IL / Eastland), the Wagner College Seahawks fell on the road to the Manhattan Lady Jaspers by a score of 65-56, earlier tonight at Draddy Gymnasium.

The Seahawks shot a blistering 43.8 percent (7-16) from behind the arc and 40 percent (20-50) from the field, but were dominated on the glass by the Jaspers, who held a 33-23 advantage in rebounds while shooting 52.1 percent (25-48) from the field.

For the second-straight game the Green & White made things interesting in the second half. With Manhattan up 32-25 with 18:23 to go in the game, the Seahawks rattled off seven straight points on a Bunyer jumper, a Jessie Collins (Crofton, MD / Arundel) lay-up and a Bunyer three pointer to tie things up at 32 with 14:01 to play. After the Lady Jaspers responded with an 8-2 run to go up 40-34, Wagner again fought back with a 14-6 run to take a 46-44 lead, their first since the 16:22 mark in the first. During the run, Bunyer came up big again knocking down her third three pointer of the game to tie the score at 44 before junior forward Takesha Dye (Boynton Beach, FL / John Leonard / Daytona Beach C.C.) knocked down a jumper to give the Seahawks their second and final lead of the game at 46-44 with 7:25 to go in the game.

From that point, the Lady Jaspers defense came to life as they held Wagner without a field goal for the next 5:06 while going on a game-clinching 14-2 run to go up by a score of 58-48 on their way to a 65-56 victory.

In the first half, Manhattan sprinted out to an 18-9 lead before the Seahawks closed the gap to 27-23 at halftime.

Wagner was led by Bunyer, who netted a career-high 21 points on 8-13 shooting, including 3-4 from behind the arc. Freshman forward Olivia Nagle (Acton, MA / Acton Boxborough) had a career-high 13 points to go with six rebounds and senior guard Joy Gallagher (Hazleton, PA / Hazleton) bucketed 11 points to round out the scorers in double-figures.

Manhattan was led by Joann Nwafili, who had a game-high 22 points.

The Seahawks complete their season-opening three-game road trip when they head to Philadelphia, PA to take on La Salle University Sunday, Nov. 27 at 1 pm.

NOTES: Tonight's game marked the first time since the March 5, 2004 contest against Monmouth that the Seahawks forced more turnovers (19) then they committed (16), a streak of 28 games ... With her three pointer at the 2:19 mark of the second half, Joy Gallagher went over 800 points for her career, she currently has 805 points ... Bunyer's previous career-high in points was 17 vs. Long Island on Dec. 7, 2004.