Dec. 30, 2006
Box Score
Staten Island, NY - Cornell (2-8) scored the first eight points of the game and never looked back as they cruised to a 57-42 victory over the home-standing Wagner Seahawks (1-11) in the consolation game of the Wagner Holiday Tournament earlier today at the Spiro Sports Center.
Senior Jessie Collins (Crofton, MD / Arundel) led Wagner with a season-best 14 points, one short of her career-high, on 5-10 shooting while committing just one turnover from the point guard position in 33 minutes of action. Junior Chelsey Bunyer (Shannon, IL / Eastland) also scored eight points, despite being plagued by early foul-trouble, and sophomore Casey Stokes (Hummelstown, PA / Lower Dauphin) had six points off the bench on two three's to round out the top-performers for the Green & White.
The Seahawks never led in the game and cut the deficit to four points on two occasions in the second-half but could never get any closer. In addition, the Green & White missed four of their first six free throws early in the second-half that could have put a dent in the Cornell-lead. Wagner hit just 5-10 from the charity stripe while the Big Red connected on 16-23 from the line, but hit 14 of their first 17 to basically put the game on ice.
Cornell also shot 57.9 percent in the second half on their way to 51.4 percent shooting (19-37) for the game while holding the Green & White to just 34.0 percent (16-47) shooting. The Big Red also dominated the glass, outrebounding Wagner 34-20 and scored 26 points in the paint compared to just eight for the Seahawks.
In the first half, Cornell scored the first eight points, before Collins' three-pointer rattled home to make it 8-3. The Big Red then ripped off five-straight to jump out to their biggest lead of the half at 13-3 before Bunyer answered with a jumper. Cornell would push their lead out to nine at 24-15 when the Seahawks cut the deficit to 24-20 with 1:45 to go on a John'a Poole (Fr., Middle River, MD / Eastern Tech) lay-up and Collins' second three of the half. Cornell would hit a pair of free throws to crawl into halftime with a 26-20 lead.
In the first half, Cornell hit 44.4 percent of their shots (8-18), but were limited to just three of their last 11 shots by a stingy-Seahawk-defense in the final 14:51 of the half. The Seahawks hit just 33.3 percent (8-24) but were kept in the game by Collins eight first-half points.
Claire Perry had a team-high 16 points for Cornell while Moina Snyder chipped in with 14 for Cornell.
Jessie Collins represented Wagner on the All-Tournament Team after averaging 10.5 ppg and 4.0 apg in the two-day tourney. Joining Collins on the tournament team was Claire Perry (Cornell), Shaunice Parker (Rider), Ashley Anderson (Rider), Priscilla Edwards (SBU) and tourney MVP Dana Mitchell from the Wagner Holiday Tournament Champion St. Bonaventure Bonnies.
Wagner is now off until Saturday, Jan. 6 when they head to Fairleigh Dickinson at 4:30 pm in their NEC road-opener.
