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Smithfield, RI – Monday night magic continued for the Wagner women's basketball team.

One week after knocking off Robert Morris, the Northeast Conference's (NEC) first-place team by a 67-51 count, Wagner earned another signature win, running past Bryant, a team that starts four seniors and entered the game tied for third in the league with a 7-4 record, dispatching the veteran, experience-laden Bulldogs 78-64.

The Seahawks have now won three straight Monday night affairs as the streak began with a 73-62 win at St. Francis Brooklyn on January 27. All three of these Monday night wins have come by double-digit margins and by an average score of 73-59.

With tonight's victory, the Seahawks, who entered the contest in seventh place in the NEC, improve to 5-7 in the conference, further emboldening their chances of making it into next month's eight-team league tournament.

Wagner has now doubled its win total from a year ago and improved to 6-17 on the season while the Bulldogs are now 12-11 overall, 7-5 in NEC play. The win was also the Seahawks' first-ever over Bryant as the Bulldogs entered the game with an 8-0 all-time record over Wagner.

Entering the game last in the NEC in free throw shooting at 61.6%, the Seahawks shot a scintillating, season-best 88.9% from the charity stripe, sinking 24-of-27 on the evening.

Once again it was the Seahawks' prolific backcourt combination of dazzling freshman Jasmine Nwajei (Rockaway Park, NY/Murry Bergtraum) and sweet-shooting sophomore Jordyn Peck (Shaker Heights, OH/Shaker Heights) who led the way.

Nwajei, who was forced to the bench for several minutes down the stretch after picking up her fourth personal foul, tallied a game-high 25 points, while adding nine rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block. Peck tossed in 23 points on the strength of a 6-of-11 shooting night and a perfect 10-of-10 performance from the free throw line.

On this night, the Green & White also received important offensive contributions from freshman guard Lyndsay Rowe (South River, NJ/St. John Vianney), who tossed in 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting. Wagner also received a timely offensive outing by senior forward Laura Amorosa (Kirkland, Quebec/Phillips Academy) who added eight points. Amorosa was 6-of-6 from the line, including a critical late pair, to help carry Wagner to victory.

Guard Jenniqua Bailey led three Bulldogs in double figures with 20 points, while Courtney Schissler and Meredith Soper added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

As proficient as Wagner was on offense perhaps even more impressive was the air-tight defense the Seahawks employed all game long. Freshman forward Taylor Butigian (Rockaway Park, NY/Christ the King) came off the bench to spark the Green & White with a career-high six blocks to go with five points and two rebounds in a productive 18-minute stint.
 
While she did not show up in the scoring column, redshirt-freshman guard Jazmine Hamlet (Manhattan, NY/Francis  Lewis) did an unheralded, but effective defensive job while delivering five rebounds, two steals and two assists. For the game, Wagner held Bryant to 37 percent shooting and was particularly effective guarding the perimeter, as the Bulldogs connected on just 4-of-16 (25%) from beyond the arc.

With Wagner clinging to a 54-51 lead, Peck drove the paint and was fouled in the act of converting a layup and converted the free throw to make it 57-51 game with 7:40 left. Following a Schissler missed three-pointer, Peck was fouled on the next possession and made a pair of free thows to open a 59-51 bulge with 5:12 left.

Schissler cut the deficit to 59-55 with 4:04 to go before Amorosa drove the lane, got fouled, and sank two big free throws with 3:42 left to again make it a two-possession game at 61-55. Wagner then wisely began to milk the clock on offense, a strategy that paid dividends when Rowe hit a driving layup in traffic with two seconds left on the shot clock to put the Seahawks up 65-55 with 2:08 to go, essentially slamming the door on Bryant's comeback hopes.

The Seahawks are back in action on Saturday, February 15 when they host St. Francis Brooklyn in a 1:00 pm tip-off at the Spiro Sports Center.