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Game Notes - Wagner I Game Notes - Yale

Staten Island, NY -  The Wagner women's basketball team plays host to the Yale Bulldogs of the Ivy League in a rare 8:00 p.m. tip-off tonight at the Spiro Sports Center.
 
ABOUT THE WAGNER SEAHAWKS
Playing against a non-conference schedule that has included VCU of the Atlantic 10, No. 8 Maryland of the ACC, No. 21 Rutgers of the Big 10, another Big 10 school in Penn State and St. John's of the Big East, the Seahawks are off to an 0-8 start. Sophomore guard Jasmine Nwajei (Rockaway Park, NY/Murry Bergtraum), the 2014 NEC Rookie of the Year, leads the Seahawks in scoring at 19.3 points while dishing out a team-best 3.9 assists per game, and is coming off of a sensational 39-point outing in the Seahawks' 82-75 overtime loss at Vermont on Sunday. One day after her remarkable outing, was named Northeast Conference (NEC) Co-Player of the Week, along with senior guard Jacqueline Brewer of Mount St. Mary's. Junior guard Jordyn Peck (Shaker Heights, OH/Shaker Heights), with 966 career points, is just 34 away from becoming the 24th Seahawk in school history to reach the 1,000-point mark for her career. The 5-6 Peck, who tossed in a season-high 27 points at Penn State (12/7), also averages in double figures at 13.4 points per game. Sophomore guard Lyndsay Rowe (South River, NJ/St. John Vianney) leads the Seahawks in three-point shooting, having knocked down 12-of-24 (.500) from beyond the arc. The lefthander checks in at 6.0 points per game while averaging 31.1 minutes per game. Sophomore forward Taylor Butigian (Rockaway Park, NY/Christ the King) is rounding into form after sitting out the first two games of the season with a leg injury. The 6-1 Butigian has averaged 8.5 points in her last two games, with a season-high 10 at Penn State (12/7), followed by a seven-point effort at Vermont (12/14) last time out. Redshirt-sophomore guard Jazmine Hamlet (New York, NY/Francis Lewis) has provided a spark off the bench in the last two games after missing the first six contests of the season with a leg injury. The 5-7 Hamlet followed a team-high seven-rebound effort at Penn State (12/7) with a 5-point, 3-rebound game at Vermont (12/14). Sophomore guard Maria Conyers-Jordan (Philadelphia, PA/Friends' Central) has averaged 5.3 points and 5.3 rebounds since being inserted into the starting lineup three games ago, headlined by a nine-point game at NJIT (12/2), which tied her career high. Sophomore forward Jackie Dluhi (Middletown, NJ/Middletown South) has started all eight games this season and is averaging 17.9 minutes of playing time. Against Monmouth (11/28), the 5-11 Monmouth County, NJ native posted season highs with four points and five rebounds. Junior guard Tessa Wade (Penn Valley, PA/Lower Merion) has played in 49 games during her three seasons on Grymes Hill. The veteran 5-8 guard has seen action in six contests this season and is averaging seven minutes of playing time per game. Freshman post player Sofia Roma (Richmond Hill, NY/Nazareth Regional) has been a factor on the glass throughout Wagner's first eight games, averaging 5.3 rebounds per game. The 6-2 Roma had a career-high 11 boards at Maryland (11/16) and pulled down eight rebounds last time out at Vermont (12/14). Freshman Tanasia Russell (Vineland, NJ/Vineland), nicknamed "Pogo" due to her vast leaping ability, scored a career-high 10 points vs. Monmouth (11/28) and has tallied four and three points, respectively, vs. Penn State (12/7) and Rutgers (11/25). Freshman forward Samantha Sullivan, at 6-1, offers a post presence and depth along the Seahawk frontcourt. She has seen action in seven contests thus far this season and averages seven minutes of playing time per game.

Nwajei NEC Player of the Week
Somerset, NJ – One day after her remarkable 39-point outing at America East member Vermont, sophomore guard Jasmine Nwajei (Rockaway Park, NY/Murry Bergtraum) was named Northeast Conference (NEC) Co-Player of the Week, along with senior guard Jacqueline Brewer of Mount St. Mary's, the league office announced today. In delivering the second-highest scoring game in Wagner women's basketball history, Nwajei achieved a feat that has been matched by only eight other Division I players this season as her single-game scoring output is tied for seventh overall on the NCAA leaderboard. In addition to recording the most points by an NEC player this season, the New York City product also notched team highs with 11 rebounds, three assists and five steals, en-route to her first double-double of the season and sixth of her career. The all-time Wagner single-game scoring record is held by Stephanie Samuels, who tossed in 43 points on February 18, 1986, in a 104-91 loss at Fairleigh Dickinson. Samuels, who played from 1982-1986, is also Wagner's all-time leading scorer with 1,835 points, and was inducted into the Seahawk Hall of Fame in 2001. Nwajei  shot 18-of-37 from the field, setting school records for field  goals made and attempted in a game, and three of the Seahawks' six three-pointers. The 2014 NEC Rookie of the Year reached the 20-point plateau on 13 occasions as a freshman, but never scored 30 in a game until netting 32 in the 2014-15 season opener at Virginia Commonwealth (11/14). The 5'8 Nwajei currently ranks No. 2 in the NEC with an average of 19.3 points per game.
 
PLAYING TOUGH NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE IS THE CERMIGNANO WAY
Wagner opened the 2014-15 season with a two-game road swing, beginning with a matchup at VCU of the Atlantic 10 (11/14) followed by a contest at No. 8 Maryland (11/16). The Seahawks' home opener was against No. 21 Rutgers (L 81-53). Led by Hall of Fame head coach C. Vivian Stringer, the 2014 WNIT Champions and the first Big 10 opponent to ever play at the Spiro Sports Center. The demanding non-conference schedule continued with a Nov. 30 game at Big East member St. John's (L 71-49). Third-year head coach Lisa Cermignano believes that last season's tough non-conference schedule helped prepare her team for NEC play and was a big reason for the Seahawks' six-game league improvement. After playing a non-league schedule that included heavyweights Kentucky, Rutgers, VCU and Pittsburgh, the Green & White went 8-10 in the NEC and qualified for the league tournament for the first time since 2010.
 
ABOUT THE YALE BULLDOGS
The Bulldogs enter tonight's play with a 3-5 overall record and the Wagner game is the first of four straight non-league tests for Yale. Prior to a nine-day break for final exams, the Bulldogs dropped an 80-72 shootout with UMass-Lowell on Dec. 8. Both teams shot over 48-percent from the field Yale grinded out two tough home wins in the first week of December, defeating Monmouth, 62-58, and Boston University, 66-59, snapping a three-game losing streak sustained on the West coast. With the win over Boston University, head coach Chris Gobrecht has recorded 107 wins since starting at Yale. With one more victory,
she will surpass Cecilia DeMarco for the most wins in program history. The Bulldogs were selected in the preseason to finish fourth by the Ivy League. Yale was predicted to finish fourth in last year's preseason
poll, and ended up following suit.

ALL-TIME SERIES
This is the third meeting between the Seahawks and Bulldogs and Yale has won the two previous meetings.
 
WAGNER ALL-TIME VS. IVY LEAGUE
This is the 45^th time that Wagner will face an Ivy League institution and the Seahawks own a 23-21 record all-time in these meetings. The school that Wagner has faced the most is Columbia, who the Green & White have met 23 times and hold a 16-7 edge. The second-most played Ivy League school for Wagner is Princeton, as the Seahawks have met the Tigers on 12 occasions, and trail 7-5 in the all-time series. Yale is the first of two Ivy League foes that Wagner will face this season as the Seahawks host aforementioned Columbia on Tuesday, December 30 at 2:00 pm.
 
Brown                   0-1
Columbia             16-7
Cornell                  1-2
Dartmouth          1-1
Harvard                0-2
Pennsylvania     -
Princeton            5-7
Yale                       0-2
                                23-21
               
SEAHAWKS 4TH IN NEC PRESEASON POLL, NWAJI NAMED TO PRESEASON ALL-NEC TEAM
Brooklyn, NY (Oct. 21)– The Wagner women's basketball team, last season's most-improved Northeast Conference (NEC) squad, was picked fourth in the 2014-2015 Preseason Poll while sophomore guard Jasmine Nwajei (Rockaway Park, NY/Murry Bergtraum) was named to the Preseason All-NEC Team, in a vote of the league's head coaches and announced today at NEC Social Media Day held at the Barclays Center. Defending champion Robert Morris was picked first, garnering five of the 10 first-place votes. Sacred Heart was chosen second, with four first-place votes, St.  Francis Brooklyn was third, with Wagner fourth and Saint Francis U rounding out the top five. Bryant was picked to finish sixth, Mount St. Mary's seventh, LIU Brooklyn checked in at eighth place with Central Connecticut and Fairleigh Dickinson finishing in a tie for ninth place.
 
 2014-2015 NEC Preseason Poll
1. Robert Morris (5)
2. Sacred Heart (4)
3. St. Francis Brooklyn (1)
4. Wagner
5. Saint Francis U
6. Bryant
7. Mount St. Mary's
8. LIU Brooklyn
9. (tie) Central Connecticut
    Fairleigh Dickinson

2014-15 Preseason All-NEC Women's Basketball
Senior         Jenniqua Bailey - Bryant
Senior        Alexa Hayward - Saint Francis U
Soph.        Jasmine Nwajei - Wagner
Senior        Eilidh Simpson - St. Francis Brooklyn
Senior        Gabrielle Washington - Sacred Heart

Follow Wagner Athletics on Twitter (@wagnerathletics) for all the latest news and updates on the athletic department, @Wag_Swagg for news and updates on the women's basketball program.