Jan. 13, 2007

Box Score

STATEN ISLAND, NY - The Quinnipiac Bobcats closed out the game with a 16-5 run over the final 7:48 to hold off a feisty Wagner team by a 63-53 score earlier tonight at the Spiro Sports Center. With the win, Quinnipiac snapped a four-game losing streak to improve to 9-5 and 3-2 in the NEC while the Seahawks fall to 2-14 and 1-5 in the NEC.

The Bobcats used a 21-11 advantage in points off turnovers while hitting 17-21 (81.0 percent) from the charity stripe compared to just 6-12 (50.0 percent) by the Green & White. Despite the loss, the Seahawks turned in another solid shooting performance hitting 40.4 percent of their shots (21-52) and barely lost the battle of the boards (38-37).

Early in the second half Quinnipiac pushed their lead out to 42-34 with 16:30 to go. Following a Seahawk timeout the Green & White went on a 14-5 run over the next 8:25, culminating it with two-straight three pointers by juniors Chelsey Bunyer (Shannon, IL / Eastland) and Ieva Sulskyte (Vilnius, Lithuania / Daytona Beach CC) with the shot clock at one to put Wagner up 48-47. During the run Wagner limited the Bobcats to just 2-12 from the floor.

From that point on it was all Bobcats as Courtney Kaminski answered with a jumper to wrestle the lead back at 49-48 with 7:48 to go. Then Quinnipiac rode the steadying hand of Erin Kerner as she scored five points and assisted on the Bobcats' last three baskets of the game.

The first half was evenly played after Quinnipiac raced out to an early 8-2 lead but Wagner shot at a 46.2 percent clip (12-26), including 3-8 from three-point land, to head into halftime down only 35-30 as the Green & White couldn't sustain any momentum due to 15 turnovers. The Bobcats also wrestled control of the game by hitting 11-13 from the free-throw line while the Seahawks were just 3-7.

Bunyer led the way for Wagner with a game-high 15 points, giving her 800 for her career, on just 7-12 shooting. Senior Takesha Dye (Boynton Beach, FL / Daytona Beach CC) also had a big night with a game-high 11 rebounds and nine points. Freshman Andrea Reed (Pocomoke City, MD / Pocomoke) had a gutsy game against one of the top point guards in the NEC in Kerner recording six points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals while constantly breaking the Quinnipiac-press.

Monique Lee led four double-digit Quinnipiac scorers with 15 points while Kerner chipped in with 13 points and seven assists.

The Seahawks rest for a day before traveling to Sacred Heart on Monday for a 7 pm tip.