Pictured Above: Sophomore wing Maria Conyers-Jordan (photo by Molly Riley)

Game Notes: Wagner | NJIT

Watch: (Fees Apply)

Live Stats

Newark, NJ –  The Wagner women's basketball team swings back into action tonight when the Seahawks play their fourth game in seven days when they meet NJIT in a 7:00 pm tip-off.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
ABOUT THE WAGNER SEAHAWKS
Playing against a non-conference schedule that has included VCU of the Atlantic 10, No. 8 Maryalnd of the ACC, No. 21 Rutgers of the Big 10 and Big East member St. John's, the Seahawks are off to an 0-5 start. Sophomore guard Jasmine Nwajei (Rockaway Park, NY/Murry Bergtraum), the 2014 NEC Rookie of the Year, leads the Seahawks in scoring at 16.6 points while dishing out a team-best 3.2 assists per game. In the season opener at VCU on November 14, the 5-8 New York City guard poured in a career-high 32 points. Junior guard Jordyn Peck (Shaker Heights, OH/Shaker Heights), with 910 career points, is just 90 away from becoming the 24th Seahawk in school history to reach the 1,000-point mark for her career. The 5-6 Peck also averages in double figures at 10.3 points per game. In the low post, redshirt-junior center Ugo Nwaigwe (Valley Stream, Valley Stream South), who at 6-3, used her her 75" wingspan to rank No. 4 nationally in blocked shots per game last season, averages 6.6 points and a team-best 6.2 rebounds per game. Nwaigwe recorded her seventh career double-double and second of the season, with 12 points and 10 rebounds, in vs. Monmouth (11/28). Sophomore guard Lyndsay Rowe (South River, NJ/St. John Vianney) checks in at 8.6 points per game.

ABOUT THE NJIT HIGHLANDERS
NJIT will play its next four contests at home, first hosting Wagner on Tuesday at 7pm at the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center. The Highlanders (3-4) went 1-1 in the Florida Atlantic Thanksgiving Tournament defeating host FAU, 65-57, in the opening round on Friday, advancing to the championship game.  In the title game, the Highlanders dropped a 60-48 decision to North Dakota State. NJIT, 1-1 at home, fell in the 2014 home opener to Lehigh, 74-54, on November 21 but bounced back with a 57-50 overtime win against St. Francis Brooklyn, led by senior point guard Alyssa Albanese's career-best 24 points, including a running lane jumper with 10 seconds remaining in regulation, forcing overtime, before breaking for the Thanksgiving holiday. The Highlanders are led by Albanese, who paces the Highlanders in four different categories – scoring (12.0ppg), 36 assists, 11 3-point field goals made and 9 steals.  Albanese has compiled 270 career assists, five shy the NJIT Division I career mark held by Ivana Seric. NJIT sophomore Leah Horton is the Highlanders' second leading scorer with 10.6ppg and tops the team with 59 rebounds (8.4rpg).  Center Nicole Maticka is averaging (6.7ppg) and (5.9rpg). The senior from Bratislava, Slovakia, is four career blocks shy the NJIT D1 record (175) held by Uju Nwankwo. In the meeting between the two teams last season, the Highlanders defeated Wagner, 58-52, in Newark, led by graduate student Shakia Robinson with 21 points and 13 rebounds.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. NJIT
This is the second straight season that Wagner will face the Highlanders in Newark. On December 30, 2013, NJIT posted a hard-fought 58-52 victory over the Seahawks. With that win, the Highlanders now lead the all-time series, 4-3.

NWAJEI PICKS UP WHERE SHE LEFT OFF LAST SEASON
Sophomore guard Jasmine Nwajei  (Rockaway Park, NY/Murry Bergtraum) averaged 15.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists during a busy week that saw the Wagner women's basketball team play three games in a five-day stretch. The 5-8 Nawajei, who earned 2014 NEC Rookie of the Year honors and is the lone non-senior on the 2014-15 All-NEC Preseason Team, tossed in 16 points with four assists vs. No. 21 Rutgers (11/25),  a member of the Big 10 Conference, and exploded for all 21 of her points at Big East member St. John's (11/30). In between these matchups vs. high-major teams, Nwajei tallied nine points, four rebounds and four assists  vs. Monmouth (11/28) as she was limited to 17 minutes of action due to foul trouble in a game in which she eventually fouled out of.
 
NWAJEI RECORDS FOURTH 20-POINT HALF OF CAREER AT ST. JOHN'S
Jasmine Nwajei's 21-point second-half outburst at St. John's last time out marked the fourth time in her career that she has hit for 20 or more points in a half and the second time this season. Here's a list of Nwajei's 20-point halves along with her final point totals in each of those games.

Date        Opponent                                20-Plus Half               Final Point Total
01/27/14     at Saint Francis Brooklyn          26 (2nd half)              27
02/17/14     Fairleigh Dickinson                    20 (1st half)                29
11/14/14     at VCU                                         20 (2nd half)              32 (career high)
11/30/14     at St. John's                                21 (2nd half)               21

PLAYING TOUGH NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE IS THE CERMIGNANO WAY
Wagner's third-year head coach Lisa Cermignano believes that last season's brutal 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-conference 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. 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. 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, and also includes well as a December 7 trip to Penn State of the Big 10.
 
"From a competition standpoint, we have to play the best," said Cermignano. "Our kids get excited about it. Last year, we proved everybody wrong because they picked us 10th and we finished a lot higher than that because of our preseason schedule. We went and faced some of the toughest teams in the country and we got into conference play, we were playing at a different level.

"In order to build a foundation for a program, it's not about how many wins you get, it's about having your team prepared for conference play, and being prepared to get to the NCAA Tournament," she adds.

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.