Feb. 18, 2006

Box Score

STATEN ISLAND, NY - Despite 43 points from the duo of senior guard Joy Gallagher (Hazleton, PA / Hazleton) and sophomore guard Chelsey Bunyer (Shannon, IL / Eastland) the Wagner College Seahawks dropped a 74-64 decision to Quinnipiac earlier today at the Burt Kahn Court.

With the loss the Seahawks fall to 2-22 and 2-13 in the Northeast Conference (NEC) while the Bobcats improve to 19-6 and a conference-best 14-2 in the NEC.

Though the game looked like a mismatch on paper that was clearly not the case as the Seahawks jumped out to an early 16-7 lead with 12:14 to go in the half. In their opening spurt the Seahawks made seven of 12 shots and were led by seven points from Bunyer and five from Gallagher. The Bobcats then countered Wagner with a 12-2 run over the next 2:34 to take their first lead of the game at 19-18 with 9:40 remaining. After both teams exchanged a pair of baskets the Bobcats went up three at 25-22 only to see Wagner answer right back with six-straight points to go up 28-25 with 4:02 remaining. Quinnipiac would end the back and forth half with a 9-5 burst to go into halftime up 31-30. In the first half, Wagner shot a sparkling 50.0 percent (11-22) and held the Bobcats to just 31.4 percent (11-35) shooting. Bunyer was a major-force in the first half scoring 13 of her 20 points.

With the score tied at 44 with 11:41 remaining in the second half, Quinnipiac went on a game-changing 14-4 run over the next 4:33 to go up by an insurmountable margin of 58-44 as Brianna Rooney scored 11 of her game-high 24 points during the run. The Seahawks would not go away though as they cut the lead to five on two separate occasions, only to see Quinnipiac answer on their way to a 74-64 victory.

Wagner continued to shoot well in the second half and shot 45.1 percent (23-51) for the game, including .500 (7-14) from behind the arc, while limiting the Bobcats to just 30.3-percent shooting (20-66). The Bobcats won the game on the defensive end as they forced 25 turnovers that led to 30 points, compared to 16 points off 12 Quinnipiac turnovers for the Green & White. Quinnipiac also made 27-35 from the free throw line, including their last 10 to ice the game.

Gallagher led the Wagner brass with 23 points, highlighted by her five three pointers on just eight attempts, to go along with a game-best nine rebounds. Bunyer also had 20 points on 9-17 shooting. Freshman forward Olivia Nagle (Acton, MA / Acton Boxborough) had 10 points off the bench to round out the Seahawk double-figure scorers. Sophomore center Ali Ridge (Barrington, IL / Fremd) had a strong defensive game matching Gallagher with a game-high nine rebounds.

Wagner next plays at Mount St. Mary's on Wednesday, Feb. 22 at 7 pm.

NOTES: Gallagher's five three pointers give her 235 for her career and leave her just one away from Susan Moffat's career-record of 236 ... She is also only two behind Moffat for most three point attempts (681) ... Bunyer and Gallagher each hit 20+ points for the fifth time this season ... The duo also each hit for 20+ points in the same game earlier this season in their victory over SFNY (1/4) when Gallagher went for 21 and Bunyer 20 ... The Seahawks have shot over 40 percent from the floor in their last four games, after doing so only five times in their first 20 games.