Jan. 28, 2006

Box Score

BROOKLYN, NY - Long Island christened their new Wellness, Recreation and Athletic Center with a 62-47 win over the visiting Wagner Seahawks earlier this afternoon in Brooklyn, NY. With the loss the Seahawks fall to 1-16 overall and 1-7 in the Northeast Conference (NEC) while the Blackbirds improve to 6-11 and an even 4-4 in the NEC.

With Long Island leading 16-15, the Blackbirds blew the game open with a 23-4 run over 11:59, spanning the end of the first half and the beginning of the second to go up by an insurmountable margin of 39-19 with 13:07 remaining in the game. During the run, the Seahawks turned the ball over seven times while only attempting eight shots, making two of them.

With Long Island up 54-31 with 5:40 to go in the game, the Seahawks rattled off eight straight points on three's from senior guard Joy Gallagher (Hazleton, PA / Hazleton) and junior guard Ashley Robinson (Joliet, IL / Regina Dominican) to go along with two free throws from sophomore center Ali Ridge (Barrington, IL / Fremd) to cut the deficit to 15 with 4:03 remaining. However Long Island's Amber Wirth, the NEC's three-point leader, hit her third triple of the game to stop the run and essentially ending the Seahawks' rally. Wagner would cut the lead to 15 twice more but would not get any closer.

Ridge paced the Seahawks with 10 points 10 rebounds and four blocks while picking up her third double-double of the season. Sophomore guard Chelsey Bunyer (Shannon, IL / Eastland) led the Seahawks in scoring for the eighth time this season with 11 points to go along with four assists.

Both teams shot the ball effectively with the Blackbirds hitting at a 42.1-percent clip (24-57) while the Seahawks knocked down 40.9 percent (18-44) of their shots. However, the Green & White turned the ball over 20 times leading to 23 points while Long Island turned the ball over 12 times leading to 14 points for Wagner.

The Blackbirds were led by 16 points from Marquita Thompson and 13 from Lana Kershaw.

The Seahawks take a day off and then return to action with a game at Central Connecticut State University on Monday, Jan. 30 at 7 pm.