Feb. 22, 2007
Box Score
Brooklyn Heights, NY - St. Francis (NY) used a strong first-half en route to a 61-47 victory over Wagner earlier tonight at the Pope Center. With the win the Terriers improve to 11-17 and 6-11 in the NEC while the Seahawks fall to 3-24 and 1-15 in conference play.
The Terriers came out of the gates red-hot, hitting seven of their first 11 shots to go up 18-7 with 10:13 to go in the half. The Seahawks would then score six-straight points on baskets from sophomore Casey Stokes (Hummelstown, PA / Lower Dauphin), senior Takesha Dye (Boynton Beach, FL / Daytona Beach CC) and classmate Jessie Collins (Crofton, MD / Arundel) to cut the deficit to five at 18-13 with eight minutes to go. The Terriers would answer with a 14-2 run to head into halftime with a 32-15 lead. In the pivotal first stanza SFNY shot a blistering 54.2 percent from the floor while holding Wagner to just 31.8 percent.
Down 42-23 with 13:05 to go in the game, sophomore Olivia Nagle (Acton, MA / Acton-Boxborough) scored six straight points to cut the lead to 13 and force a SFNY timeout. The Terriers then used a pair of Kara Ayers free throws to quell the rally. The Green & White would cut it to 13 on two more occasions but would get no closer. Wagner limited SFNY to just 26.1 shooting and six field goals in the second half only to see SFNY hit 17-22 (77.3 percent) from the charity stripe to ice the game.
Despite the loss, the Green & White ruled the glass outrebounding the Terriers 43-33, including a mind-boggling 24-13 on the offensive end, which led to a 25-16 advantage in second-chance points. Nagle led the frontcourt with nine rebounds to go along with a team-high 13 points. Dye matched Nagle with nine rebounds and hit for 10 points while narrowly missing her sixth double-double of the year. Junior Ali Ridge (Barrington, IL / Fremd) pulled down eight rebounds to go with two blocks to round out a fine performance form the Seahawk-frontcourt.
The Green & White hit on a respectable 34.5 percent from the floor but could were just 5-12 (41.7 percent) from the free throw line compared to 20-28 (71.4 percent) for the home team.
Tiffany Hill (16 points) and Katja Bavendam (13 points, 13 rebounds, six blocks) paced the SFNY attack.
Wagner will now head home for their final two games of the year. The Seahawks will take on Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday at 4 pm before closing out their season on Monday at 7 pm against Saint Francis (PA).
