BOX SCORE

Brooklyn, NY - Ashley Palmer scored 24 of her game-high 27 points in the second half, leading Long Island to a come-from-behind 67-60 victory over Wagner in Northeast Conference (NEC) action at the Wellness Center.

Junior Megan Mahoney (Staten Island, NY / St. Peter's) led the way for the Green & White with 19 points while senior Andrea Reed (Pocomoke City, MD / Pocomoke) chipped in with 11 points.

Wagner falls to 5-13 and 2-5 in the NEC while LIU improves to 11-7 and 5-2 in the NEC. The Blackbirds connected on 27-of-34 from the line (79.4 %) while the Seahawks went to the lines just eight times, making good on five (62.5 %).

Leading 27-24 at intermission, Wagner started the second stanza with an 8-3 run over the first 4:52, pushing their biggest lead of the game to eight at 35-27, highlighted by a pair of Reed jumpers. After exchanging three pointers, the Blackbirds rattled off a 12-2 run while taking the lead at 42-40 with 11:25 to play. The spurt gave LIU its first advantage since early in the first half and was capped by eight-straight points from Palmer.

Wagner would recapture the lead for the last time of the night on a Mahoney lay-up at the 7:22 mark, making it 48-47. The Blackbirds countered with six-straight points while going in front at 53-48 with just over five minutes to play.

The Seahawks continued to fight, cutting the deficit to one with 3:50 to play on a pair of Mahoney free throws but would get no closer as LIU ended the game on a 7-2 run.

Wagner shot a solid 44.6 percent (25-56), including 41.7 percent (5-12) from long range, but struggled down the stretch, connecting on just 3-of-11 over the following Mahoney's with 7:22 to go.

LIU made good on an even 40.0 percent (18-45), including 47.6 percent in the second half, but took control of the game by hitting on 21-of-26 (80.8 %) from the free throw line in the decisive stanza.

Despite being outrebounded 39-25, the Seahawks outscored the Blackbirds in the paint (26-24). Palmer netted her game-high 27 points, on 6-of-9 shooting from the field and 14-16 shooting from the line, while Chelsi Johnson and Connie James each scored 12 points.

In the first half, down 7-5 with 15:25 to go in the first half, Wagner embarked on a 9-0 run over the next 4:25, taking a 14-7 lead. Olsen got thing started with a jumper off a nice pass from Reed before canning a triple off another Reed offering. Junior Stephanie McBride (Mechanicville, NY / Catholic Central) and classmate Sha'ron Harrison (Paterson, NJ / John F. Kennedy) followed with buckets, making it 14-7 with 10:05 to play.

The Green & White extended the lead out to seven on three more occasions only to see Blackbirds continue to claw back. LIU got to within one with 4:03 to play before heading into intermission down three at 27-24.

Wagner is at St. Francis (NY) on Saturday, January 23 with tipoff slated for 2:00 pm.