Dec. 1, 2007
Box Score
Evanston, IL - Sophomore Andrea Reed (Pocomoke City, MD / Pocomoke) narrowly missed her first triple-double with a career-high 13 assists, 10 points and nine rebounds while earning All-Tournament accolades in Wagner's 73-61 loss to Central Michigan in the consolation game of the Mildred and Roger White Invitational. With the win the Chippewas improve to 3-4 while the Green & White are now 2-4.
Central Michigan overcame a 13-point second-half deficit, using a 28-8 edge on the offensive glass that led to a 20 second-chance points and a potent defense that forced 24 Wagner miscues. Despite the loss the Seahawks tied a school-record by hitting on all 15 of their free throws.
The Seahawks' recent second-half struggles were evident again today as Central Michigan used a 22-7 run after halftime in grabbing a 48-44 lead with 11:17 remaining. Wagner awoke from their second-half swoon by scoring seven-straight points, highlighted by freshman Stephanie McBride's (Mechanicville, NY / Catholic Central) three pointer that reclaimed the lead, and went back in front 51-48 with 9:29 to go. Central Michigan would not go away though and with Wagner holding a 57-54 lead the Chippewas scored 11-straight points to take a insurmountable 65-57 lead with 2:57 to play in the contest. The Seahawks would make one last push cutting the deficit to four with 1:32 to go on a pair of Bunyer free throws. On the ensuing play junior Casey Stokes (Hummelstown, PA / Lower Dauphin) stole the inbounds pass, but was called for traveling basically ending any chance Wagner had as Central Michigan claimed a 73-61 win.
Reed's impressive performance was magnified by the fact she also led the Green & White with four steals and three blocks in 38 minutes of action. Playing in front of a large legion of hometown fans senior Chelsey Bunyer (Shannon, IL / Eastland) had a game-high 23 points, on 9-21 shooting, while classmate Ali Ridge (Barrington, IL / Fremd) also impressed in her home state with a team-best 11 rebounds. Sophomore John'a Poole (Middle River, MD / Eastern Tech) rounded out the top performers for the Seahawks with 12 points.
In the first half, the Seahawks built an early 7-4 lead thanks to five points from senior Ieva Sulskyte (Vilnius, Lithuania / Daytona Beach CC). CMU fought back with an 8-2 spurt to claim a 12-9 lead before Wagner answered with nine-straight points to go up 18-12 with 8:47 to go in the first. The Chippewas briefly quelled the run with a three pointer as the Seahawks ripped off four-straight points from Bunyer to make it 22-15.
After the two teams went back-and-forth over the next three-plus minutes Wagner scored seven-straight points to take their biggest lead of the game at 37-23 with 1:01 remaining in the half and went into intermission up 37-26.
Wagner shot 46.4 percent (13-28) in the first half, led by Bunyer (11 points) and Poole (10 points). Central Michigan, meanwhile, hit on just 25.0 percent (10-40) but was kept in the game thanks to a 10-2 edge in second-chance points and 13 points from the bench.
Latisha Luckett paced four double-digit scorers for the Chippewas with 20 points and a game-high 17 rebounds.
Wagner opens up conference play next Saturday, Dec. 8 when the Seahawks host St. Francis (NY) at approximately 2:00 pm.
Notes: Bunyer has now scored 20 points or more in 10 games in her career ... She has 988 career points and needs just 12 to become the 21st Seahawk to hit for 1,000 ... Reed's double-double is the second by a Wagner player this season ... She also hit for double-figures in points for the fourth time this year after doing so just three times last year ... The Seahawks were perfect from the line on just three other occasions in school-history ... This was the first meeting between the Seahawks and Central Michigan ... Both Wagner opponents (Boston College, Central Michigan) also saw their football teams play in their conference title-games with the Eagles losing and the Chippewas winning.
