BOX SCORE
Brooklyn, NY – Down eight at the half, the Wagner Seahawks clawed their way back for a hard-fought 53-51 victory over LIU in Northeast Conference (NEC) action at the Wellness Center. With the win, the Seahawks pick up the season-sweep over the Blackbirds while moving to 7-17 and 3-11 in the NEC. LIU falls to 7-17 and 2-11 in league play.
Up 52-51 with just nine seconds remaining Ashley Palmer's fade away shot off an inbounds play clanked off the iron and sophomore Stephanie McBride (Mechanicville, NY / Catholic Central) split a pair from the line to ice the 53-51 victory. The Wagner defense keyed in on Palmer, the NEC's second leading scorer and rebounder, holding her to just three points, on 1-10 shooting, and three boards.
The Seahawks shot 41.5 percent (22-53), including 46.4 percent in the second half, while LIU shot just 28.6 percent (20-70), including an anemic 23.5 percent in the second stanza. The Green & White were outrebounded 47-40, including 22-9 on offensive end.
Junior Andrea Reed (Pocomoke City, MD / Pocomoke) led the way for Wagner with nine assists, eight points and seven rebounds. Freshman Kelly Clark (Neptune, NJ / St. Rose) and junior John'a Poole (Middle River, MD / Eastern Tech) were the high scorers for the Green & White with 10 points each. Ashley Olsen (Staten Island, NY / Notre Dame Academy) narrowly missed a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds while freshman Kanifa Hicks (Paterson, NJ / Passaic County Tech) added eight off the bench.
Down 42-33 with 12:56 remaining Wagner embarked on a 7-0 run to cut it to 42-40 with 10:23 remaining. Hicks drilled a pair from the line and Reed hit a layup before Naomi Augustin (Jr., Valley Stream, NY / Valley Stream) capped the run with a three pointer. With the Blackbirds still up two at 48-46, the Seahawks finally broke through as Hicks tied the game up at 48-48 with a jumper at the 3:35 mark. Olsen then gave the Green & White its first lead since midway through the first half with a jumper off a nifty pass from Reed. The Blackbirds responded with a Marika Sprow three pointer to make it 51-50 LIU with just 2:52 to go. Wagner immediately answered when Hicks knocked down another big jumper with 2:33 to go. The Blackbirds would have numerous opportunities to recapture the lead but missed five shots down the stretch.
Chelsi Johnson led LIU with 14 points and nine rebounds while Tessy Hetting added 11 points and six rebounds. Connie James rounded out the double-digit scorers for the Blackbirds with 10 points while also grabbing nine caroms.
In the first half, Palmer opened up the scoring with a triple before Wagner struck for seven-straight points to take a 7-3 lead at the first media timeout. LIU would fight back to tie the game at 11-11 before the Green & White regained the lead with a Poole jumper and a Clark layup with just over 12 minutes to go in the first half. The Blackbirds would come charging back with five-straight points to take the lead at 16-15 following a James layup. Poole would answer with another pair of baskets, sandwiched between a LIU free throw, to give Wagner a 19-17 lead. The Blackbirds would then rip off nine-straight points to fuel a 14-2 run that resulted in LIU taking a 31-21 lead before heading into intermission up 31-23.
NOTES – Wagner snapped a four-game losing streak while picking up its second road victory of the year … The first was just a block away in nearby Brooklyn Heights earlier this year at St. Francis (NY) … The Seahawks also erased a nine-point second half deficit in the teams' first meeting, which ironically ended in the same 53-51 score … Clark recorded a career-high five blocks … The Seahawks now have seven victories, matching their win total from last year ... It was also the first time the Green & White have won at the Wellness Center, which opened in 2006 ... Wagner is next in action at Bryant on Monday, February 16 at 7 pm.
