BOX SCORE

Staten Island, NY – Lauren Howell scored 20 of her game-high 23 points in the second half and Mount St. Mary's shot 60.0 percent after intermission in posting a 77-61 victory over Wagner on Senior Night at the Spiro Sports Center. With the victory, the Mountaineers improve to 12-15 and 7-10 in the Northeast Conference (NEC) while clinching the eighth and final NEC Tournament berth. The Seahawks fall to 7-20 and 3-13 in the NEC and were eliminated from NEC playoff contention.

Prior to the game, Wagner honored seniors Casey Stokes (Hummelstown, PA / Lower Dauphin) and Helen Swartley (Staten Island, NY / St. Joseph's Hill) in the final home game for each student-athlete.

Mount St. Mary's connected on 15 of its first 22 shots to begin the second half, including seven-straight three point attempts, in racing out to a game-high 22 point lead. Down just four points at the break, the Seahawks matched each one of the Mountaineers' first three baskets of the second stanza before pulling to one at 40-39 with 16:14 remaining on Stokes' third triple of the night. Howell quickly answered with a three pointer to spark a game-changing 22-4run over the next 7:41that would give the visitors an insurmountable 62-43 lead with 8:17 to go. During the game-changing spurt, Howell accounted for 12 points, all on three pointers. Wagner would quickly answer with five-straight point to cut it to 62-48 with 7:42 but would get no closer.

It was déjà vu for Howell as the sophomore guard hit for 20 points in the second half at the Spiro Sports Center for the second-straight year. She knocked down her first six triples in the second half after hitting all six of her attempts last year in the final stanza before finally missing on her final shot of the night.

After shooting a blistering 40.7 percent in the first half, including 71.4 percent from beyond the arc, the Green & White connected on just 32.3 percent in the second half.

Freshman Kelly Clark (Neptune, NJ / St. Rose) led the Seahawkswith 12 points, eight rebounds and three blocks while junior Andrea Reed (Pocomoke City, MD / Pocomoke) also notched 12 points with four assists. Classmate John'a Poole (Middle River, MD / Eastern Tech) chipped in with 10 points, five boards and three steals while Stokes added nine points, on 3-7 shooting from long range, in her final home game.

For the game, Mount St. Mary's shot 49.0 percent (25-51), including a blistering 72.7 percent (8-11) from long distance while Wagner made good on 36.7 percent (21-58), and 47.1 percent (8-17) from long range after failing to hit a three pointer in the last game against Robert Morris.

In the initial stanza, the Mountaineers took a 33-29 lead into halftime thanks to knocking down 12-14 (85.7 %) from the charity stripe. The Seahawks shot a solid 40.7 percent, including 5-7 (71.4 %) from long range to stay in the game.

Wagner, which will be missing out on the playoffs for the fifth-straight year, is at Monmouth on Saturday, February 28 at 3:30 pm.