Dec. 8, 2007

Box Score

Staten Island, NY - The Wagner Seahawks lost to St. Francis (NY) 62-53 in their Northeast Conference (NEC) Opener at the Spiro Sports Center. Despite the loss, Andrea Reed (Pocomoke City, MD / Pocomoke) turned in another spectacular performance with 13 points, nine assists, eight rebounds and a career-high five steals, against just two turnovers, in 35 minutes of action. With the loss, Wagner falls to 2-5 and 0-1 in the NEC while the Terriers improve to 3-5 and 1-1 in conference play.

For the game, Wagner shot just 31.7 percent (19-60) while SFNY hit on 38.0 percent (19-50) of their shots, including 50 percent in the second stanza. The Seahawks stayed in the game thanks to a relentless second-half press that forced 12 turnovers leading to 16 points compared to just six and seven for the Terriers, respectively. The Green & White also used an 11-1 advantage in second-chance points.

Senior Ali Ridge (Barrington, IL / Barrington) paced the Seahawks in scoring for the first time this year with 14 points, on 7-10 shooting, to go along with seven rebounds. Freshmen Stephanie McBride (Mechanicville, NY / Catholic Central) (9 points) and Ashley Olsen (Staten Island, NY / Notre Dame Academy) (8 points, 7 rebounds) also stood out for the Green & White.

After Kendra Williams' three-point play gave SFNY their biggest lead at 51-37 with 9:13 to go in the game, Wagner's sophomore floor-general Reed went to work. Sophomore John'a Poole (Middle River, MD / Eastern Tech) drilled a three pointer off a pass from Reed. Reed then picked the pocket of Tiffany Hill and cruised in for the layup to cut the deficit to nine. After three SFNY points, Poole hit a free throw before Ridge hit a layup, set up by another Reed pass. On the ensuing possession, the 5-4 Reed knocked the ball out of 6-4 forward Kendra Williams' hands and drove in for the layup to slice the Terrier lead to 54-47 with 5:48 remaining, capping a 10-3 Wagner spurt. That would be as close as the Seahawks would get as Kara Ayers answered the Wagner run with a jumper and a layup to push the lead back out to 11. The Seahawks cut the deficit to eight on three more occasions but never get any closer as SFNY held on for the 62-53 win.

In the first half, SFNY jumped out to an early 10-2 lead at the first media timeout. The Green & White did not help themselves misfiring on eight of their first nine shots while turning the ball over four times. Freshmen reserves Olsen and McBride then entered the game and proceeded to score the next 12 Wagner points and help the Green & White get going offensively. Down 23-14 with 4:33 to go in the first, Ridge sandwiched a pair of layups around an Olsen free throw to cut the lead to 23-19 with just over three minutes remaining in the half. However, as they would do all game, SFNY responded with a 6-1 run to enter halftime up 29-20.

Both teams struggled from the floor in the first stanza as Wagner hit on a miniscule 24.1 percent (7-29) from the floor while the Terriers were good on just 31.3 percent (10-32).

SFNY was led by Tiffany Hill (18 points, 9 rebounds) and Kara Ayers (18 points, 7 rebounds).

The Seahawks return to the court on Saturday, Dec. 15 when they host Umass at 2:00 pm in non-conference action at the Spiro Sports Center.

Notes: After dropping their conference opener for the seventh time in eight games, Wagner is now 13-15, all-time, including 10-12 in NEC lidlifters ... SFNY coach Brenda Milano, a 1995 Wagner grad, improves to 7-2 all-time against her alma mater ... Reed is averaging 11.5 ppg, 11.0 apg, 8.5 rpg and 4.5 spg in her last two contests.