Feb. 18, 2008
Box Score
Staten Island, NY - Sophomore Andrea Reed's (Pocomoke City, MD / Pocomoke) lay-up attempt with three seconds remaining bounced off the rim and Sacred Heart's Maggie Cosgrove hit a pair from the charity stripe as the Pioneers withstood a furious late-game rally from Wagner, winning 53-49. With the win the Pioneers improve to 18-8 and 13-2 in the Northeast Conference while the Seahawks drop to 6-19 and 4-10 in the NEC.
Despite suffering a heart-breaking defeat, the loss did not affect Wagner's place in the standings as they are still tied with Monmouth for the eighth and final playoff spot while Mount St. Mary's, which is 5-10 and in seventh, was idle.
Khalia Cain's free throw with 2:27 remaining pushed the Pioneers lead out to 49-43 with 2:27 remaining. Senior Chelsey Bunyer (Shannon, IL / Eastland) then hit a pair of free throws with 2:01 remaining to slice the lead to four. On the ensuing possession senior Ali Ridge (Barrington, IL / Fremd) blocked Alisa Apo's shot and Reed corralled her ninth rebound of the night. After Ridge misfired on a pair of free throws Bunyer came up with the offensive board and kicked it out to junior Casey Stokes (Hummelstown, PA / Lower Dauphin), who dribbled right next to the Seahawk bench before connecting on her third three pointer of the game with 1:09 while cutting the lead to 49-48.
After a Seahawk timeout, the Wagner defense dug in and forced Kaitlin Sowinski into a tough shot that hit the front of the rim before dropping to make it 51-48 with 38 seconds remaining. The Seahawks missed a potential game-tying three pointer only to see Ridge come up the offensive board and was fouled. She missed the first one and connected on the second to cut it to 51-49 with 15 seconds left. The Pioneers then beat the Wagner press for what appeared to be an easy lay-up but Stephanie Ryan was called for traveling with nine seconds remaining. That set up Reed's last-second try that came up just short as Sacred Heart escaped the Spiro Sports Center with a tough 53-49 win.
In the first half, the Pioneers assumed the early lead at 16-10 with 12:15 remaining, thanks to four three pointers in the game first seven-plus minutes of the game. The Seahawks would continue to claw at the lead and trailed just 28-24 at the intermission.
Despite the loss, Wagner had a commanding 20-3 advantage in points off of turnovers as the Green & White forced Sacred Heart into 21 turnovers while committing just 14, including only four in the second period. The difference in the game was at the free throw line where the Green & White connected on just 55.6 percent (10-18) while the Pioneers made good on 72.2 percent (13-18).
Bunyer led Wagner with 13 points while passing former teammate Joy Gallagher for 14th place on the all-time Seahawk scoring list. She now has 1,170 points. Ridge also had a strong game with 12 points, six rebounds and three blocks. Besides her team-high nine caroms, Reed handed out five assists, against just three turnovers, while playing 37 minutes.
Sacred Heart was paced by Kaitlin Sowinski, who had 21 points, six rebounds and six blocks. Stephanie Ryan hit for 11 points while pulling down 10 boards for her eighth double-double of the yaer.
It does not get any easier for the ladies from Staten Island as they travel to the Keystone State for their only meeting of the year with 2007 NEC Champion Robert Morris on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 4:30 pm.
