Feb. 28, 2006

Box Score

TEANECK, NJ - The Wagner College Seahawks frantic second-half comeback fell short as they dropped a 57-55 heartbreaker at Fairleigh Dickinson earlier tonight at the Rothman Center in Teaneck, NJ. With the loss the Seahawks end their season 2-25 and 2-16 in the Northeast Conference while the Knights move onto the NEC Playoffs at 10-17 and 6-12 in the NEC.

Trailing 55-52 with 1:37 to go freshman forward Olivia Nagle (Acton, MA / Acton Boxborough) grabbed a rebound off a missed shot and was fouled hitting one of two free throws to cut the deficit to two with 1:14 to go. The Seahawks then forced a turnover by Gayle Coats and capitalized on a Nagle layup off a pass from freshman guard Casey Stokes (Hummelstown, PA / Lower Dauphin) to tie the game at 55 with 41 seconds to go. FDU then answered with a short jumper from Katie Warehime to go up two at 57-55 with 21 seconds remaining. Following a 30-second timeout, the Seahawks were in position to tie the game but turned the ball over with 10 seconds to go. The Knights would proceed to run the clock out and close out the Seahawks season.

The Seahawks got back into the game with one of their patented late-season charges. Trailing 39-22 with 16:55 remaining in the game, the Green and White ripped off an 18-2 run over the next 5:25 to cut the lead to one at 41-40 with 11:30 to go. Senior guard Joy Gallagher (Hazleton, PA / Hazleton) and sophomore guard Chelsey Bunyer (Shannon, IL / Eastland) sparked the run, scoring 15 of the 17 points. The Knights would answer with four straight points going up 45-40, only to see the Seahawks score the next six points to take their only lead of the game at 46-45 with 7:27 remaining. FDU stopped the bleeding with a three pointer from Lauren Coombs to go up 48-46.

Wagner's impressive second-half performance came on the heels of a difficult first-half in which the Seahawks scored only 18 points on 32.0 percent shooting (8-25) and turned the ball over 20 times, heading into halftime down 33-18.

The Seahawks were paced by Bunyer, who finished her impressive sophomore season with a game-high 18 points on 8-16 shooting to go along with six rebounds and three steals. Gallagher ended her terrific Seahawks' career with 14 points. For her career she had 1,158 points, good for 14th on the Seahawks career scoring list and a school-best 240 three pointers. Nagle had an excellent defensive game with a career-high 12 rebounds, on the strength of 10 second-half caroms, and eight points off the bench.

The Seahawks shot 39.6 percent (21-53) for the game compared 34.8 percent (23-66) for the Knights, but were done in by their season-high 33 turnovers.