Jan. 14, 2008
Box Score
West Long Branch, NJ - Brooke McElroy scored 12 of her game-high 15 points in the second half to lead Monmouth to a come-from-behind 66-58 win in Northeast Conference (NEC) action at Boylan Gym. The Hawks outscored the Seahawks 30-14 over the final 12 plus minutes to improve to 3-12 and 1-4 in the NEC while the Green & White are now 2-14 and 0-5 in the NEC.
Down 57-54 with 3:17 to go in the game, sophomore Andrea Reed (Pocomoke City, MD / Pocomoke) hit a driving lay-up to cut the lead to 57-56 with 2:40 to play. Unfortunately for Wagner that would be as close as the Seahawks would get as the Hawks ripped off nine-straight points. The Green & White had their chances during the fateful stretch, but missed five shots and committed two turnovers while the Hawks missed seven free throws in the game's final two minutes.
Reed paced the Seahawks with 14 points, seven assists and six rebounds in 38 minutes. Junior Casey Stokes (Hummelstown, PA / Lower Dauphin) matched Reed with a career-best tying 14 points, fueled by four three pointers, with four steals and three rebounds in a career-best 37 minutes. Senior Ali Ridge (Barrington, IL / Fremd) had a game-high nine rebounds with nine points, rounding out the top-performers for the Green & White.
In defeat, the Seahawks hit on 40.4 percent of their shots (21-52) and limited the Hawks to just 36.2 percent shooting (21-58) but were done in by a 44-37 Monmouth advantage on the glass, including 25-14 in the second stanza.
Wagner led in the early going by an 8-4 count just over four minutes into the game before Monmouth used a 10-4 spurt to claim their first lead of the day at 14-12 with 11:16 to go in the first half. The homestanding Hawks would push their lead out to 24-17, the largest by either team of the half, with 5:22 remaining.
The Seahawks' offense then went to work. Sophomore John'a Poole (Middle River MD / Eastern Tech) hit a jumper before junior Helen Swartley (Staten Island, NY / St. Joseph Hill) followed suit with one her own. Reed drilled a pair of free throws and suddenly the seven-point deficit was just one. Monmouth's Samantha Schanuel answered with a jumper to push the lead back out to three at 26-23 with 3:22 to go in the half. Ridge connected on a free throw and Stokes drained a triple to reclaim the lead, 27-26. After the Hawks went back up 28-27, Stokes hit her second-straight three pointer to cap a 13-4 run while giving the Seahawks a 30-28 halftime lead.
The Green & White kept it up early in the second stanza, using an 8-1 run to push the lead out to 46-38, the Seahawks biggest of the game, with 12:36 to play. Monmouth countered with a game-changing 15-2 run over 3:15 to take their first lead of the second half at 51-46 with 8:39 to go. During that span Wagner turned the ball over on three-straight possessions and four times overall. Down but not out, the Seahawks hung tough as Stokes answered with her fourth triple of the game. Ridge then tied it up at 51-51 with 6:40 to play before the Hawks outscored Wagner 15-7 the rest of the way.
Wagner is now off until Monday, Jan. 21 when the Seahawks travel Preseason NEC favorite Long Island for a 2 pm tilt.
