Dec. 9, 2006

Box Score

STATEN ISLAND, NY - For the second-straight game the Wagner Seahawks (1-6; 0-2 NEC) were done in by a hot-shooting team as Robert Morris (4-3; 1-0 NEC) used a dominating first-half performance to defeat Wagner by a 78-47 count earlier tonight in women's basketball action at the Spiro Sports Center. For the game Robert Morris shot a stellar 44.4 percent (32-72) from the field, including 47.4 percent (9-19) from behind the arc, while the Green & White hit only 37.8 percent (17-45) of their shots.

Johna Poole's (Fr., Middle River, MD / Eastern Tech) game-high 15 points and Takesha Dye's (Boynton Beach, FL / Daytona Beach C.C.) third double-double (10 points, 14 rebounds) paced the Wagner effort, which shot 50.0 percent (12-24) in the second half.

RMU sprinted out of the gates and led 12-4 with 14:44 remaining at the first media timeout. During the opening spurt the Colonials hit six of their first nine shots. Wagner would cut the lead to five twice before the Colonials would rip off 11 straight points - on the strength of three straight three pointers and a jumper - to go up 25-9 with 7:57 to go. After a jumper by junior Chelsey Bunyer (Shannon, IL / Eastland) and a free throw by sophomore Olivia Nagle (Acton, MA / Acton-Boxborough) temporarily stopped the bleeding Jenna Burkett dropped in two straight three pointers to push the lead to 31-12. Sophomore Casey Stokes (Hummelstown, PA / Lower Dauphin) then knocked down a three pointer with 5:36 to go before RMU scored the last 12 points of the period to go into halftime up 43-15.

Burkett's 12 first-half points, on four three pointers, led a Colonial attack that shot 48.6 percent (17-35) in the first stanza while hitting 6-11 from behind the arc. The RMU defense limited the Seahawks to just 23.8 percent shooting (5-21) and forced 14 Wagner turnovers.

The second-half saw more of the same as the Colonials pushed their lead to a game-high of 38 before the Seahawks came back to cut it to 25 but would get no closer as RMU won 78-47.

Burkett's team-high 15 points led three double-digit scorers for the Colonials.

Wagner takes a short break for final exams before making the short trip to Columbia for a 7:00-pm tip on Thursday, Dec. 14.