VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

FINAL STATS

Staten Island, NY – Senior center Kelly Clark (Neptune, NJ/ St. Rose) recorded her third double-double of the season and seventh of her career with 23 points and 11 rebounds and scored Wagner's last seven points of the game to lead the Seahawks to a 49-45 win over St. Francis (NY) in the Northeast Conference (NEC) opener for both teams.
 
With the victory, the Seahawks improve to 2-5 on the season, 1-0 in the NEC while the Terriers fall to 1-6, 0-1 in league play.


 
Junior forward Marie-Laurence Archambault (Montreal, Quebec/ Montmorency) added 10 points, six rebounds and four assists for the Seahawks. St. Francis (NY) was led by Jaymee Veney who had 10 points while Kelly Myers added nine.
 
This was a nip-and-tuck affair throughout as the biggest lead either team could muster was a seven-point edge Wagner held at 23-16 on a pair of free throws by freshman point guard Jacqui Thompson (Southampton, PA/ St. Basil Academy) with 6:04 to play in the first half. The largest edge that St. Francis (NY) held was four.
 
The Seahawks led by a 25-23 count at halftime and maintained that lead for virtually the entire second half, opening six-point advantages on two occasions, the latter with 8:12 remaining in the game when junior guard Veronick Fournier (Gatineau, Quebec/ Montmorency) drilled a three-pointer after receiving a kick-out pass from Clark to give Wagner a 42-36 lead. The Terriers countered with a three-pointer from Sarah Benedetti at the 6:03 juncture, followed by a Veney jumper with 5:18 left, that drew St. Francis (NY) to within 42-41.
 
The score remained 42-41 for the next 2:21 until Myers hit a driving layup at the 2:57 mark, giving the Terriers their first and only lead of the second half at 43-42. Eighteen seconds later, at the 2:39 mark, Clark hit a layup off a pretty feed from Archambault to give Wagner the lead for good at 44-43. The Seahawks, however, did not reach the finish line until enduring several harrowing moments down the stretch.
 
Clark sank a pair of free throws with 1:42 left to extend the Wagner lead to 46-43. The ever-hustling Fournier came up with a steal with 31 seconds left and was fouled at the 27-second mark. Fournier, however, missed the front end of the one-and-one and St. Francis (NY) answered on its next possession with a Jasmin Robinson layup with 15 seconds to go make it a 46-45 game. With eight seconds remaining, Thompson was fouled and, she too, missed the front end of a one-and-one but Wagner caught a break when Myers committed a turnover at the eight-second mark.
 
Clark was fouled one second later and made one-of-two from the line but she was able to chase down her own miss and, following the offensive rebound, was fouled again with five seconds left. This time, Clark made both foul shots as Wagner secured the 49-45 win.
 
Wagner was outshot by the Terriers 44 percent to 38 percent but won the battle of the boards, 32-28. In addition to the 23 and 10 points scored by Clark and Archambault, respectively, redshirt junior forward Chanez Robinson (Newark, NJ/ Shabazz) added six points and eight rebounds while Thompson tossed in five.
 
Wagner took a 25-23 lead into intermission following a half that featured runs by both teams. Wagner jumped out to a quick 9-4 lead, with five of those points coming from Archambault. The Terriers then answered with a 9-0 run ignited by a Eilidh Simpson three-pointer and capped by a jumper by Colette Hounshell to make it a 13-9 game with 12:14 left in the half. Wagner then went on an 11-1 run that was keyed by five points from Clark. The run was capped by a Thompson layup at 6:32 which put the Seahawks in front by a 20-14 score. Moments later, the Seahawks took their biggest lead of the half and game at 23-16 following a pair of Thompson free throws at the 6:04 mark. The Terriers then closed the half on a 7-2 tear to draw to within two at intermission. St. Francis (NY) out-shot the Seahawks 50 percent to 48 percent in the opening half. Clark and Archambault paced the Seahawks with seven points apiece in the first half while Kim Snauwaert led the Terriers with five first-half points.
 
Wagner is next in action on Monday when the Seahawks make the short trek to Brooklyn to meet LIU in a 7:00 pm tip.
 
NOTES - Today's game marked the 67th all-time meeting between the local rivals and Wagner now holds a 51-16 lead in the  series. The Seahawks have won the last four meetings. The game within the game occurred on the sidelines where both teams were coached by Wagner College Hall of Famers. The Seahawks' 18th-year lead coach Gela Mikalauskas, the school's all-time leader with 216 career wins, was inducted into the Wagner Athletics Hall of Fame in 1991. Patrolling the sideline for the Terriers is 1995 Wagner graduate Brenda Milano, ('95), a 2010 inductee who scored 1,046 points in her Seahawk career.