Feb. 2, 2008

Box Score

New Britain, CT - Wagner outscored Central Connecticut State 13-2 in overtime while holding the Blue Devils without a field goal in a hard-fought 59-48 victory. The Seahawks avenged a previous overtime loss to CCSU with their second-straight win and first overtime victory since Jan. 30, 1999. Wagner improves to 4-16 and 2-7 in the NEC while eclipsing their win total of three from a year ago. CCSU falls 3-19 and 2-9 in the NEC.

Sophomore Andrea Reed (Pocomoke City, MD / Pocomoke) hit a running jumper to give Wagner a 48-46 lead with 4:07 to go in the extra session. She pushed the lead out to four with a pair of free throws. Kanita Boone split a pair from the charity stripe to cut the deficit to 50-47 with 2:16 to go. Wagner then broke the game open with seven-straight points. Sophomore John'a Poole (Middle River, MD / Eastern Tech) and junior Casey Stokes (Hummelstown, PA / Lower Dauphin) each hit a pair of free throws. Senior Chelsey Bunyer's (Shannon, IL / Eastland) capped the run with a back-breaking three pointer to give the Seahawks an insurmountable 57-47 lead with just under a minute remaining. Stokes would add two more free throws to complete the scoring for Wagner as the Seahawks went 8-8 from the line in the extra session and 9-10 for the game. In the extra period, the defense also held the Blue Devils without a field goal (0-9).

For the game, Wagner shot 39.0 percent (23-59) while CCSU hit on just 27.7 percent (18-65). The Blue Devils also connected on just 4-24 (16.7 percent) from beyond the arc and 8-18 (44.4 percent) from the free throw line. CCSU outrebounded Wagner 46-43, including 21-11 on the offensive end.

Bunyer led Wagner with a game-high 13 points with five rebounds. Reed just missed her second double-double with a career-high 12 rebounds with nine points, five assists and three steals in 39 minutes of action. Poole and senior Ali Ridge (Barrington, IL / Fremd) each chipped in with eight points while freshman Ashley Olsen (Staten Island / Notre Dame Academy) and Stokes hit for seven points apiece.

With Wagner up 44-39 with 4:44 to go in the game, CCSU scored five-straight points to tie the game up at 44-44 with 2:18 to go in the game. Bunyer then hit a jumper to reassume the lead at 46-44 only to see the Blue Devils answer with a lay-up from Kerrianne Dugan. After a Wagner turnover with 37 seconds remaining, Dugan was fouled and went to the line with a chance to give CCSU their first lead since it was 2-0, but missed both free throws. The Blue Devils got the offensive rebound and after a pair of timeouts, their last second shot was no good as the two teams went to overtime for the second time this year.

The first half featured tough defense as both teams shot under 30 percent while forcing a combined 21 turnovers. After CCSU netted the first basket of the game, Wagner scored eight-straight points to go in front 8-2. During the opening spurt, the Seahawk defense also forced the Blue Devils into 13-straight missed shots, a span of just under nine minutes. After a Stephanie McBride (Fr., Mechanicville, NY / Catholic Central) lay-up off the inbounds pass pushed the lead back out to 10-2, the Blue Devils hit a pair of shots to cut the deficit to 10-7 with 9:55 to go in the first. Wagner would push the lead out 14-7 with 4:16 to go following a pair of lay-ups from Reed and Poole and went into the half with a 21-14 lead.

Wagner assumed their third-straight halftime lead thanks to a 24-21 edge in rebounding while holding the CCSU shooters to just 20.7 percent shooting (6-29), including 9.1 percent (1-11) from beyond the arc.

Wagner will look to make it three in a row when the Seahawks host Long Island on Monday at 7 pm in the Spiro Sports Center.