FINAL STATS

Hamilton, NY –  Junior guard Veronick Fournier (Gatineau, Quebec/ Montmorency) tossed in a career-high 17 points to lead three players in double figures but it was not enough as Colgate staved off Wagner 71-59 at Cotterrell Court.

Colgate, which had lost four games by three points or less, picked up its first win of the season and the Red Raiders are now 1-10 overall while the Seahawks fall to 2-7.

In addition to her career-high point total, Fournier went 7-of-13 from the field, establishing career highs in both categories. She went 3-of-5 from three-point range in tying her career high in both categories while adding seven rebounds, which were one shy of her career-best.

Senior center Kelly Clark (Neptune, NJ/ St. Rose) and redshirt junior guard Kanifa Hicks (Paterson, NJ/ Passaic Tech) scored 12 points apiece. Hicks' 12-point outing was a season high while Clark, who grabbed eight rebounds,  scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half. Redshirt junior forward Chanez Robinson (Newark, NJ/ Shabazz) had a strong game inside, finishing with nine points while matching Clark for game-high honors with eight rebounds.

After shooting just 26 percent and turning the ball over 15 times, the Seahawks trailed 33-21 at halftime. Wagner came out blazing though, in the second half, going on a 13-5 run over a 4:38 stretch fueled by five-point binges by Hicks and Fournier to draw within 38-36 on a Fournier jumper with 15:22 left.

Trailing 42-38, Fournier banged in a three-pointer to make it a one-point game at 42-41. Following a defensive stop, Robinson gave the Seahawks their first lead of the game at 43-42 with 11:38 to play. Colgate countered with a 16-7 run to build a 59-49 lead on a Kelly Reid layup with 3:55 to go. Wagner then answered with an 8-2 run to get as close as four points at 61-57 on a Clark layup with 1:28 left. A layup by Lauryn Kobiela at the 1:16 mark started a game-ending 10-2 run with the final six points of the game coming from the free throw line.

The Red Raiders featured a balanced offensive attack as five players finished in double figures with Reid and Kobiela leading the way with 13 points apiece. Kelly Korkowski added 12 points while Candice Green and Mariah Jones each finished with 11 points.

Colgate out-shot Wagner 45 percent to 35 percent. While the Seahawks enjoyed a commanding 43-28 edge in the rebounding department but that was not enough to overcome a 3-for-16 shooting day from three-point range and 27 turnovers.

In building its 33-21 halftime lead, Colgate shot 54 percent from the field (14-26), including a 2-of-2 from beyond the arc The Seahawks, meanwhile, shot just 26 percent from the floor (7-of-27), including a 1-of-8 effort from three-point range. Wagner was hurt by committing 15 turnovers in the opening half.

Clark, the NEC's fifth-leading scorer entering the game at 15.0 ppg., was held two points on 0-of-3 shooting from the floor and 2-of-2 from the free throw line. Leading the way for the Seahawks in the opening stanza was Fournier  with seven. The 5-11 Fournier scored five of Wagner's first seven points on a jumper and a three-pointer, the latter at the 16:25 mark of the first half tied the game at 7-7.

The Red Raiders then answered with a three-pointer of their own by Catherine Lewis which ignited an 11-0 run as five different players scored for Colgate over a 4:44 span in building an 18-7 lead with 11:04 left in the half. Wagner then went to work, embarking on an 11-2 run of its own. Hicks  got things started with an old-fashioned three-point play following a strong drive to the basket. Junior forward Marie-Laurence Archambault (Montreal, Quebec/ Montmorency) had four points in the run and capped it off with a layup at 7:08 that drew the Seahawks to within 20-18.

Colgate then closed the half with a 13-3 burst, headlined by five points from Lauryn Kobiela, to head into the locker room with a 33-21 lead.

Wagner is next in action on Sunday, December 18 when the Seahawks travel to Penn State to meet the the 17th-ranked Nittany Lions in a 1:00 pm tip-off.

NOTES – Freshman point guard Jacqui Thompson (Southampton, PA/ St. Basil Academy), despite not finding the scoring column, played a solid floor game with five assists and two rebounds while turning the ball over just once in a 28-minute stint. Robinson has corralled eight or more rebounds in six of Wagner's nine games this season and is second on the team in rebounding average 7.1 boards per game. Clark is the team leader in caroms at 7.4 while also leading the team in scoring at 14.7 points per game. Clark is the lone Seahawk averaging in double figures as the second-leading scorer on the team is Thompson who checks in at 7.0 points per game. Archambault, who has been struggling of late, is Wagner's third-leading scorer at 6.7 points per game. Wagner shot a season-best 74 percent from the free throw line as the Seahawks sank 14-of-19. The Seahawks are now 0-4 vs. Patriot League teams this season. Wagner dropped its season opener on Nov. 11 at Army, 70-46 before meeting a pair of Patriot League teams in the NEC-Patriot League Thanksgiving Classic. On Nov. 25 at Lafayette, the Leopards scored the last eight points of the game in pulling away for a 66-55 win. Two days later, on Nov. 27 in Staten Island, Wagner was bested by Lehigh by the count of 63-44.The Red Raiders are now 1-2 vs. NEC teams this season, dropping a 76-74 decision to Bryant on Nov. 11 and coming up on the short end of a decision to Sacred Heart, 78-51, on Nov. 22, with both of those defeats coming at home. Today's game marked the 14th meeting between the schools and Colgate now holds a 10-4 lead in the all-time series. Last season, these teams played a memorable overtime affair on Staten Island. The game,  contested on Nov.23, 2010, featured nine lead changes and five ties, the last of which came at 69-69 at the end of regulation. In the overtime, the Red Raiders took over en route to an 85-73 win.