Jan. 5, 2008

Box Score

Fairfield, CT - Sacred Heart used a strong second half to defeat Wagner 69-53 at the Pitt Center in the Seahawks' first game of 2008. The Green & White, who have now lost seven-straight to the Pioneers, fall to 2-10 and 0-2 in the Northeast Conference (NEC) while Sacred Heart improves to 8-6 and 3-0 in the NEC.

In the early going it looked as though it would be all Sacred Heart as the home team scored the first 10 points of the game before Nyoto Patterson (Fr., Teaneck, NJ / Manhattan Center (NY) answered for the Green & White with two straight lay-ups. After missing their first three shots of the game, Wagner hit 59.1 percent (13-22) of their shots and outscored the Pioneers 31-19 to end the half. Down 27-20 with 5:18 remaining the Seahawks ripped off an 11-2 run to take a 31-29 lead into intermission.

Using a consummate team effort in the first stanza Wagner had six players score between four and six points while shooting 52.0 percent (13-25). The defense was also up to the challenger limiting Sacred Heart to just 31.8 percent (7-22) shooting. Wagner's bench spurred the Seahawk rally by outscoring their counterparts by a 19-0 advantage. The Pioneers stayed in the game thanks to a 12-4 advantage in free throws.

Unfortunately for Wagner their lead would be short-lived as Sacred Heart used a three-point play from Alisa Apo to reclaim the lead at 32-31 at the 19:44 mark to start the second. Down four, Wagner used a lay-up from senior Ieva Sulskyte (Vilnius, Lithuania / Daytona Beach CC) and a jumper from Andrea Reed (Pocomoke City, MD / Pocomoke) to tie the game at 35-35 with 17:39 to go. From that point on it was all Sacred Heart as the Pioneers scored eight-straight points while holding Wagner scoreless for just over six minutes. The Green & White would cut the deficit to four on two more occasions, the last time with a Chelsey Bunyer (Sr., Shannon, IL / Eastland) jumper at the 9:25 mark. The Pioneers then put the game away with a 11-1 run, making it 56-42 with 5:58 to go.

After shooting lights out in the first, Wagner managed to make just 24.2 percent (8-33) in the second stanza on their way to 36.2 percent shooting (21-58) for the game. Sacred Heart, like Wagner reversed its course shooting a blistering 58.3 percent (14-24) in the second and hit on 45.7 percent (21-46) for the game. The Pioneers also made 24-32 from the line compared to just 10-13 for the Seahawks and were aided by a 24-14 differential in fouls.

Reed had another solid game with 14 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals to lead Wagner. Sulskyte hit for double-digits for the third time this year with 10 points and Bunyer had eight points to round out the top performers on offense for the Green & White.

Stephanie Ryan (16 points, 9 rebounds) and Kaitlin Sowinski (15 points, 10 rebounds) paced four double-digit scorers for Sacred Heart.

Wagner is next in action on Monday at 7 pm when CCSU comes to the Spiro Sports Center.