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Staten Island, NY – Staten Island, NY – The Wagner women's basketball team ushered in the Lisa Cermignano era with a high-intensity, well-coordinated effort but Army made just enough winning plays down the stretch to survive a 65-62 thriller over Wagner.

Senior forward Marie-Laurence Archambault (Montreal, Quebec/ Montmorency) tossed in a team-high 17 points on six-of-eight shooting, including five-of-seven marksmanship from three-point range, en route to a game-high 17-point outing. The 6-0 tri-captain added four rebounds, three assists and a steal while playing the entire 40 minutes.

Sophomore forward Stephanie Blais (Sherbrooke, Quebec/ Montmorency) added 13 points, one shy of her career high while fifth-year senior tri-captain Chanez Robinson (Newark, NJ/ Shabazz/ Northeastern) added 12.

When these teams met in the 2011-2012 lid-lifter at West Point, the Black Knights were victorious by a 70-46 count. This time, the Seahawks who were sporting sharp, new gray uniforms, took the fight to Army from the outset in what quickly turned into a hotly-contested affair featured 13 ties and nine lead changes. The largest lead held by either team all night was a six-point Seahawk edge at 14-8, a lead forged on a jumper by exciting left-handed freshman guard Jordyn Peck (Shaker Heights, OH/ Shaker Heights,) who showed some of her vast offensive capability with nine points, one assist and one steal in 19 action-packed minutes.

Army was paced by the inside-outside combination of freshman center Aimee Oertner and junior small forward Jen Hazlett, who tied for game-high honors with 18 points apiece. Oertner added a game-high 12 rebounds in posting the double-double while fellow freshman Kelsey Minato turned in a solid 12-point, six-rebound effort. Sophomore forward Olivia Schretzman was another in a long line of Black Knights who attacked the throughout as she pulled down 11 rebounds to go with eight points.

The widest statistical margin between the teams was on the boards where the Black Knights held an overwhelming 54-30 advantage, including a 25-11 edge on the offensive glass. Five Black Knights fought their way to six rebounds or more as Army enjoyed a 23-6 advantage in second-chance points. Wagner  was led in the rebounding department by 5-11 senior guard Veronick Fournier (Gatineau, Quebec/ Montreal, Canada) who grabbed five boards on the evening.
In the opening half, Wagner limited Army to 29 percent shooting (10-of-35) as the Black Knights held the lead just once in the first 20 minutes, at 8-7 with 15:25. Archambault's long three with seven seconds left in the half lifted the Seahawks to  32-28 lead at intermission.

Wagner held the lead for most of the first 10 minutes of the second before Army took its first lead of the half at 46-44 at the 9:58 juncture as Anna Simmers threw ahead to sprinting Hazlett for the go-ahead layup.

The lead see-sawed four times until Oertner sank a pair of pressure-packed free throws with 3:03 left to put Army on top 59-57. Blais found a cutting Robinson for a layup with 2:38 to go to tie the game at 59-59. A Hazett jumper at 2:17 put Army into the lead for good at 61-59. With Wagner trailing 63-60, Fournier nailed a clutch jumper of a feed from Blais with 16 seconds left. Hazlett sank a pair from the line with 13 seconds left to make it 65-62 game. In the game's final five seconds, each team took a pair of timeouts and Wagner was unable to get off the potential game-tying three as Army escaped with the 65-62 win.

Wagner held a slim 38%-37% edge in shooting.

The Seahawks return to action on Wednesday, November 14 when Wagner makes the short trek to Morningside Heights to meet the Lions of Columbia. Last season, the Lions were one of the two teams that the Seahawks defeated as the Green & White came away with a 66-54 victory on November 16, 2011.

NOTES – Two Seahawk freshman saw playing time vs. Army. In addition to Peck, freshman center Emily Adams (Cumming, GA/ Buford) came off the bench in a two-minute stint. In winning its first-ever game on Staten Island in a series that debuted in 1978-79, the Black Knights have now won five of the eight all-time meetings.