FINAL STATS

Loudonville, NY – The Wagner College women's basketball team played a stifling brand of defense and rode the hot second-half shooting of sophomore forward Marie-Laurence Archambault (Montreal, Quebec/ Montmorency) to a 64-61 victory over Siena at the Alumni Recreation Center.

The victory comes on the heels of a 52-48 season-opening overtime home win over Army on Nov. 12 and improves the Seahawks' record to 2-0 on the young season while the Saints fall to 1-2.

Archambault led a balanced attack with 17 points, highlighted by four second half three-pointers. Also hitting for double figures for the Seahawks were senior guard Megan Mahoney (Staten Island, NY/ St. Peter's) with 14 points while senior guard Stephanie McBride (Mechanicville, NY/ Catholic Central) and junior center Kelly Clark (Neptune, NJ/ St. Rose) tallied 13 and 10 points, respectively.

Trailing 29-28 at halftime, Wagner took control of the game with a 15-4 run to open the second half, capped by a three-pointer from Archambault, which gave Wagner a 43-34 lead with 9:11 left to play. For Archambault, it marked the first of her four second half treys. Mahoney, whose steal and ensuing breakaway layup gave Wagner a 40-34 lead. and Clark each notched four points during the run.

Siena would cut the deficit to three points on a free throw by Brittany Wilwohl with 6:49 to play but that was as close as the Great Danes would get as Archambault answered with a three-pointer at the 6:28 mark to push the lead back to six

“'I thought we had a very good first half. It was very hard-fought and we were down one at the half and we were right in the ballgame on the road, right where you want to be,” said Wagner 17th-year head coach Gela Mikalauskas. “In the second half I thought our defense stepped it up a notch and offensively we started to get a little bit of a comfortable lead.

“Once we had a six, seven-point cushion I think our kids said 'it's our time now,'” Mikalauskas continued. “We didn't let them back in it and protected that lead for all that it was worth.”

Mikalauskas was pleased with her team's balanced scoring. 'We think we have a very good scoring team. On any given night anyone can go off and get 20 but we would like to see throughout the season that balanced, double-digit scoring.”

Archambault was 6-for-10 from the field and 5-of-8 from beyond the arc off the bench. “I think we have six starters and Marie coming off the bench is a weapon offensively that opens up the game,” said Mikalauskas. “ I thought she hit big-time shots, clutch shots and really got us that cushion that we needed.”

Wagner out-shot Siena 44%-34% and had 14 assists on 22 made field goals led by a career-high six-assist outing from McBride to go with her 13 points. As a team, the Seahawks were 8-of-20 (40%) from beyond the arc. Defensively, Wagner defended the perimeter very well, limiting the Saints to 2-of-12 shooting from three-point range.

Siena was led by senior center Serena Moore who had 25 points on 10-ofor-20 shooting and 12 rebounds. Lily Grenci added 12 points for the Saints who held a sizeable 42-29 advantage in the rebounding department.

Wagner is next in action on Tuesday, Nov. 23 when the Seahawks host Colgate at 7:00 pm. at the Spiro Sports Center.

NOTES – Archambault's five made three-pointers and eight three-point attempts were both career highs. McBride, who lives minutes from the Siena campus, was given the starting nod over Archambault. Wagner held a 27-17 edge in bench scoring with all 27 points coming from Archambault and Clark who notched 17 and 10 points, respectively. For Clark, who added five rebounds, it marked her second straight solid outing off the bench as she had nine points in the opener vs. Army. Senior forward Ashley Olsen (Staten Island, NY/ Notre Dame Academy) pulled down a team-high nine rebounds. Before Wagner took control of the game in the second half, this was a nip-and-tuck affair as the game featured nine ties and 12 lead changes.