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Staten Island, NY – Senior forward Marie-Laurence Archambault (Montreal, Quebec/ Montmorency), who was honored before the game on becoming the 23^rd Wagner women's basketball  player to enter the 1,000-point club this past weekend, tossed in 12 points on four made three-pointers and dished out a career-high six assists, but Mount St. Mary's was able to pull away for a 54-42 win.

Tonight's Wagner-Mount St. Mary's game was the Seahawks “Play4Kay Game”, a national initiative that honors former NC State head coach Kay Yow and is aimed at raising funds and awareness for breast cancer. In mid-February each year, basketball teams from across the nation wear pink uniforms, or as part of their uniforms, while encouraging fans to wear pink as well. Several breast cancer survivors were honored during the game while Yvette Serrano, the Director of Special Events for the American Cancer Society was the halftime guest of Wagner's NEC Front Row announcer Mike Ventola. 

In gaining the victory, the Mountaineers improve to 10-13 on the year, 6-6 in the Northeast Conference (NEC) while Wagner fell to 2-21, 1-11 in league play.

The Mount took an early 9-0 lead as the Seahawks misfired on their first six field goal attempts in going scoreless over the initial 6:15 of the game. Freshman guard Jordyn Peck (Shaker Heights, OH/ Shaker Heights) got Wagner on the board at the 13:45 mark to make it 9-2.

After falling behind by that nine-point margin, the rest of the half was played fairly evenly as the Mountaineers outscored Wagner 22-17 over the final 12:38 of the half in building a 31-19 halftime bulge.

At the outset of the second half, the Green & White displayed great energy and execution in going on an 8-0 run that cut the deficit to just four at 31-27. Fifth-year senior center Chanez Robinson (Newark, NJ/ Shabazz/ Northeastern) hit a driving layup at 19:04 to make it 31-21. Both teams then went scoreless over the next 2:17 until junior forward Laura Amorosa (Kirkland, Quebec/ Phillips Academy) broke the dry spell with a three-pointer off a feed by Peck to make it a 31-24 game, resulting in a Mount timeout at the 16:43 mark.

The Mountaineers missed a layup out of the timeout, with Amorosa grabbing the defensive rebound.  Wagner worked the ball around the perimeter until an open Archambault capped the run by drilling a three-ball at 16:12, drawing Wagner to within a scant four points at 31-27. The Mountaineers responded with a big three-pointer of their own by Sydney Henderson off an assist by Selina Mann that upped their lead back to seven, 34-27.

The Mount seemed to be finding its comfort zone at this point as the Henderson three-pointer triggered a 9-2 run that ran the lead out to 40-29, thanks to a three-pointer by Jenn Carney with 10:23 to go. The gritty Seahawks would not go away easily as they answered with a quick 7-0 burst over the next 2:47. Archambault got things started by swishing a three-pointer after receiving a pass from fellow senior Canadian Veronick Fournier (Gatineau, Quebec/ Montmorency).

The teams then traded empty possessions until Amorosa shook free for a layup, after receiving a bounce pass from Archambault, to slice the deficit to 40-34. The Seahawk run resulted in another Mountaineer timeout at 8:07, as head coach Bryan Whitten eschewed waiting for theunder-eight minute media timeout. On its possession following the timeout, Mann was called for a charge at the 7:59 mark, a stoppage in play that brought about the ensuing media timeout.

On their next trip down the court, the Seahawks cut the Mount lead to four for the second time in the half, as Robinson found a cutting Peck in the lane for a layup that made it a 40-36 contest with 7:44 to go. This would, however, prove to be as close as the Seahawks would get. As had been the case some eight-plus minutes earlier when the Seahawks cut it to 31-27 at 16:12, it was Henderson who had the answer, nailing another clutch three-pointer off a feed from Rachel Matthews which pushed the lead back to seven, 43-36, with 7:16 left.

Mount St. Mary's would go on to take its biggest lead of the game, a 14-point 54-40 margin, on a Henderson free throw at the 31-second mark. Robinson then rounded out the night's scoring by sinking a pair of free throws with 15 seconds to go to make it a 54-42 final.

Robinson delivered a solid performance in the low post, finishing with 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting, to go with a career-high three blocks. Sophomore forward Stephanie Blais (Sherbrooke Quebec/ Montmorency) added eight points and three rebounds. Amorosa wound up with five while was limited to four points on 2-of-10 shooting. The 5-6 left-handed wunderkind entered the game averaging team-highs in scoring in both NEC (14.8) and overall scoring (10.8).

The Mount was paced Henderson's game-high 17-point night, which came on 7-of-14 shooting, as she led three Mountaineers in double figures. Kayla Grosset had 12 points while Carney added 10 off the bench.

Wagner out-shot the Mount 39 percent to 35 percent but was beaten on the boards, 40-26. Contributing significantly to the Seahawk defeat were 23 turnovers, while the Mount took better care of the ball, turning it over 15 times.

The Seahawks are back at it on Saturday, February 16 when they host the Bulldogs of Bryant in a 1:00 pm tip. The Wagner-Bryant women's tilt will be the first game of a Spiro Center doubleheader as the men's teams from these respective schools are set to tip off at 4:00 pm.
 

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