Game 24: Saint Francis Brooklyn (16-7, 7-5 NEC) at Wagner (6-17, 5-7 NEC)
Saturday, Feb. 15 - 1:00 pm
Spiro Sports Center

Live Stats / Free Live Video

 
Follow the game on Twitter @WagSwagg_WBB
 
Staten Island, NY - The Wagner women's basketball team looks for a season sweep of a talented St. Francis Brooklyn team today at 1:00 pm in Northeast Conference (NEC) play at the Spiro Sports Center on Play4Kay Day.
 
The Play4Kay initiative represents an opportunity for a nation of coaches to raise breast cancer awareness and funds for research on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond. Named in honor of the late NC State head coach Kay Yow, a member of the Naismith Hall of Fame, who waged a courageous and awareness-raising battle against cancer before her death in 2009 at age 66.
 
Since its inception in 2007, the Play4Kay initiative has raised over $2.8 million to support women's cancer research. The Kay Yow Cancer Fund is the official charity of the initiative.
 
All fans attending today's game are encouraged to wear pink to the game as each fan wearing pink will receive 50% off the ticket price with 10% of the proceeds going to support the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.
 
Click HERE to learn more about this worthy cause.
 
One week after knocking off Robert Morris on February 3, the Northeast Conference's (NEC) first-place team by a 67-51 count, Wagner earned another signature win last time out on Monday night.  The Seahawks dispatched a veteran, experience-laden Bulldog squad, 78-4, besting a team that starts four seniors and entered play tied for third in the league with a 7-4 record,

With the victory, the Seahawks improved to 5-7 and maintained their seventh place spot in the NEC, 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.
 
In St. Francis Brooklyn, Wagner is facing a team tied for fourth in the NEC standings at 7-5 and a squad that boasts a 16-7 overall record. These teams met on January 27 in Brooklyn Heights. On that evening, freshman point guard Jasmine Nwajei (Rockaway Park, NY/Murry Bergtraum) exploded for 25 of her game-high 27 points in the second half and sophomore guard Jordyn Peck (Shaker Heights, OH/Shaker Heights) added 19 to carry Wagner to a gritty 73-62 win,

Nwajei picked up her second personal foul seven minutes into the game and did not return the rest of the half. In her absence, fellow freshman guard Lyndsay Rowe (South River, NJ/St. John Vianney) stepped up with 12 first-half points as the Seahawks entered the locker room with a 27-23 lead at intermission.
 
In the second half, Nwajei took over, sinking 9-of-15 shots, including a pair of three-pointers, and went 7-of-9 from the free throw line, including a host of crucial ones down the stretch, to key the Wagner victory. The three-time NEC Rookie of the Week added seven rebounds and five assists on the evening.

In Monday night's impressive win over Bryant, again it was the Seahawks' prolific backcourt combination of Nwajei and the sweet-shooting Peck who led the way. Nwajei continued her remarkable play by averaging 25.5 points in Wagner's two most recent games, including a 25-point, nine-rebound, four-assist, two-steal performance against Bryant, an effort that propelled her to a fifth NEC Rookie of the Week Award.
 
Against the Bulldogs, Nwajei shot 9-of-20 from the field vs. the Bulldogs, 2-of-6 from three-point range, and went 5-of-7 from the free throw line. Two days earlier, the 5-8 New York City guard had 26 points, six assists, five rebounds and two steals at Fairleigh Dickinson. In addition to averaging 25.5 points in the two games, Nwajei averaged 7.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists in the two games. Far and away the leading freshman scorer in the NEC, Nwajei ranks No. 2 in league games with a 22.3 average and is No. 7 overall in scoring at 16.9 points per outing.
 
Peck averaged 22.0 points per game in Wagner's two contests last week, highlighted by a 23-point, three-rebound effort in Monday night's win at Bryant. Against the Bulldogs, the 5-6 lefty shot 6-of-11 from the floor and was a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line. Peck tallied 18 second-half points and converted all 10 of her free throw attempts in a decisive second-half that saw the Seahawks consistently keep the experienced and talent-laden Bulldogs at bay.
 
Two days earlier Peck added 21 points in an 82-70 loss at Fairleigh Dickinson. In the two games combined, Peck playing all 80 minutes, Peck, in addition to averaging 22.0 points, shot 13-of-23 from the field (.565 ), 4-of-9 (.444) from three-point range and 14-of-15 (.933) from the charity stripe. She now ranks No. 2 in the NEC in overall scoring (19.4) and is tied for No. 3 in NEC play, scoring at a 22.1 clip in the Seahawks' 12 league contests.
 
Redshirt-Sophomore Center Ugo Nwaigwe (Valley Stream, NY/Valley Stream South) entered the week ranked No. 1 in the NEC and No. 5 nationally with 3.55 blocked shots per game. With every rejection she registers, Nwaigwe adds to her single-season school-record block total. With seven blocks at Fairleigh Dickinson (2/8) and three more at Bryant (2/10), the 6-3 rim protector is now up to 81 blocks on the season…and counting.
 
While Nwajei has been garnering much of the attention, Wagner has received valuable and consistent contributions from several other first-year players throughout this season. Freshman guard Lyndsay Rowe (South River, NJ/St. John Vianney), the only Seahawk to start all 23 games in 2013-2014, tossed in 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting in the win at Bryant. 
 
As proficient as Wagner was on offense in the win at Bryant, 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.
 
Wagner also received a solid performance from senior forward and co-captain Laura Amorosa (Kirkland, Quebec/Phillips Academy). During an eight-point outing off the bench in the win at Bryant, Amorosa went 6-of-6 from the line, including a critical late pair, to help Wagner seal the victory.