Game 2: Wagner (0-1) at Monmouth (0-1)
Thursday,  Nov. 14- 7:00 pm
MAC Center – West Long Branch, NJ

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West Long Branch, NJ - The 2013-2014 Wagner women's basketball team travels to West Long Branch, NJ to meet former Northeast Conference (NEC) rival Monmouth tonight at 7:00 pm as both the Seahawks and Hawks search for their first wins of the season.
 
Tonight's game marks the 67th between the two schools, with Monmouth holding a 42-24 advantage in the all-time series. The majority of these games were playing while Monmouth was a member of the NEC. Following last season, Monmouth became a member of the MAAC. Both teams enter play sporting 0-1 records. While the Seahawks lost to No. 7 Kentucky on Sunday, the Hawks opened the season on Saturday, dropping a 64-55 home contest to Yale. Tonight's contest begins a stretch of three road games vs. local teams as the Seahawks travel to Iona on Nov. 20, followed by a date at Seton Hall on Nov. 23.
 
Seahawks Began Year Two of Cermignano Era by Hosting No. 7 Kentucky
The Green & White, in its  second season under head coach Lisa Cermignano, kicked off the 2013-14 campaign by hosting No. 7 Kentucky on Nov. 10 in front of a loud, boisterous crowd of 1,847 at the Spiro Center. Wagner held its own early vs. the highest-ranked opponent to ever play on campus, as freshman guard scored Jasmine Nwajei scored the first five points of the game en route to an impressive 19-point performance.
 
Jersey Shore Homecoming for Dluhi, Rowe
Tonight's matchup with Monmouth represents a homecoming of sorts for a pair of Seahawk freshmen Jackie Dluhi, a 5-11 forward hails from nearby Middletown, NJ and starred at Middletown South High School, which is located approximately 10 miles from the MAC Center and about a 20-minute drive from the MAC Center. Lyndsay Rowe, a 5-8 guard, also found scholastic success near the Jersey Shore. Although a resident of South River, NJ in Middlesex County, the left-handed Rowe enjoyed a stellar prep career at St. John Vianney High School in Holmdel, located some 18 miles and some 25 minutes or so from the Monmouth campus.
 
Blais, Peck Lead Returnees, Amorosa, Williamson Tabbed Captains
The Seahawks were 3-26 (2-16 NEC) a year ago and return two of their top three leading scorers in junior forward Stephanie Blais (Sherbrooke, Quebec/ Montmorency) and sophomore guard Jordyn Peck (Shaker Heights, OH/Shaker Heights), who burst on to scene by averaging 10. 2 points per game while earning All-NEC Freshman Team honors. Senior forward Laura Amorosa (Kirkland, Quebec/Phillips Academy) will serve as co-captain along with her roommate and senior manager, Melanie Williamson. A top-rated guard out of Baltimore, MD, Williamson's playing career ended prior to her freshman season in 2010-2011 due to a heart ailment, but she has remained an integral member of the program during her time at Wagner. Redshirt sophomore center Ugo Nwaigwe (Valley Stream, NY/Valley Stream South) has performed well throughout the preseason, while redshirt freshman Jazmine Hamlet (Queens, NY/Francis Lewis) and sophomore Tessa Wade (Penn Valley, Lower Merion).

Look Back At Season-Opening Contest vs. No. 7 Kentucky
The game-opening 5-0 Seahawk run got the crowd into the game early and signalled Nwajei's arrival to the college game. Nwajei 's first career points came on a driving layup 18 seconds into the contest  and after she drained her first career three-pointer at the 18:19 mark, the Seahawks found themselves with a 5-0 lead over their counterparts from the Southeastern Conference. While the Wildcats pulled away for a 96-57 win, the Seahawks drew many positives from the game.
 
Big Crowd
The crowd of 1,857 marked the highest attendance since Cermignano took over, as thprevious highest crowd was 812 vs. Army on November 9, 2012.
 
Heralded Freshman Jasmine Nwajei Goes for 19
Freshman guard Jasmine Nwajei (Rockaway Park, NY/Murry Bergtraum) scored the game's first five points en route to a 19-point effort and the young, feisty and new-look Seahawks brought the fight to Kentucky before the nation's seventh-ranked team eventually pulled away for a 96-57 win in front a spirited crowd of 1,847 at the Spiro Sports Center. The dynamic 5-8 Nawajei wound up 7-for-16 from the floor (1-of-4 from beyond the arc) and 4-of-7 from the line in fashioning her 19 points, while also dishing out four assists.
 
Ugo Makes Presence Felt
Promising 6-3 redshirt sophomore center Ugo Nwaigwe (Valley Stream, NY/Valley Stream South). The eight points matched Nwaigwe's career high while her nine rebounds against the tall Kentucky front line were one shy of a career high. The ever-hustling and improving Nwaigwe, who sat out the last 20 games of last season with a foot injury, also recorded a career-high three blocked shots against the Wildcats.
 
By the Numbers: 57 Points vs. No. 7 Encouraging
The 57 points scored today by Wagner against No. 7 Kentucky would have ranked as the eight-highest offensive output last season. In fact, over Wagner's final 10 games of the 2012-13 season the Seahawks reached 57 points just once, that coming in a 85-57 loss at Monmouth on March 2. "We scored 57 points against a team that stops everything," said Cermignano. "They stop traffic. That's a great sign right there."
 
Seahawks Hold Own With Bigger, Stronger 'Cats
While Kentucky held a solid 47-35 edge in the rebounding department, the Green & White held their own in this category, led by Nwaigwe's hard-working nine-rebound total in the low post.  Defensively, Wagner held Kentucky to a sub 50-percent shooting day, as the Wildcats' hit 49.3 percent from the field, making on 35-of-71 attempts. The Green & White, meanwhile, shot a more than respectable 39% on the afternoon, connecting on 22-of-57 attempts against one of the nation's top defensive outfits.
 
Senior Amorosa Efficient vs. Wildcats
Senior co-captain Laura Amorosa (Kirkland, Quebec/Phillips Academy) turned in an efficient 15-minute outing for the Seahawks, scoring five points on 2-for-2 shooting, one a three-pointer, in addition to grabbing three rebounds, dishing out two assists and coming up with one steal.
 
Freshmen Guards Make Impact
Redshirt freshman guard Jazmine Hamlet (Queens, NY/Francis Lewis) also made her presence felt, turning in a productive seven-point, four-rebound, two-steal, one-assist effort in 17 minutes of action off the bench as did freshman wing Maria Conyers-Jordan (Philadelphia,, PA/Friends' Central). The athletic, 5-9 Conyers-Jordan offered a promise of her vast potential, chipping in with five points and two board. Yet another freshman, guard Lyndsay Rowe (South River, NJ/St. John Vianney), hit the scoring column in her Seahawk debut, scoring three points on a first-half trey.
 
Quoting Lisa Cermignano
"Playing Kentucky has made us a better team. Our goal is January and getting ready for the NEC," said Cermignano. "And with a young team, I tried to create excitement for our team and our program, and Staten Island, but also challenge them against the best.  I brought in a lot of kids who are used to playing at a very high level in high school and who are expected to do the same here. I only know, to play the best, you become the best. Our non-conference schedule is designed to prepare us for our conference,  to allow us to then play for an NCAA bid. That's the meaning behind this. Kentucky is great, just a great team inside, out and backwards. We've learned a lot today, we got better every day preparing for Kentucky, we got better walking on the court today than we were last Saturday in our scrimmage. We just got better preparing for them, and we got better today  as team, building confidence for seven kids that almost never played before, against a team contesting for a Final Four.
 
Quoting Kentucky head coach Matthew Marshall
"I think Wagner has a lot to be excited about right now," said Kentucky seventh-year head coach Matthew Mitchell, who's the winningest coach in Wildcat history. "They showed a lot of improvement from last year. I thought they played extremely hard and I think the future is very, very bright for that team. I think that Lisa is an outstanding coach and an outstanding recruiter.  I thought they were well-prepared for the game."
 
More Power Conference Foes Coming Up
Kentucky is not the only power conference team on the Seahawk schedule. Wagner is also set to play at Seton Hall of the BIG EAST (11/23), and Rutgers of the American Athletic Conference (12/12), in addition to hosting Atlantic 10 member VCU (12/1) and Pittsburgh of the ACC (12/7).