Game 27: Wagner Seahawks (8-18, 7-8 NEC) at Central Connecticut Blue Devils (10-15, 4-11 NEC)

Monday, Feb. 24 – 7:00 pm

Detrick Gymnasium, New Britain, CT

Live Stats / Free Live Video
 
Game Notes

Follow the game on Twitter @WagSwagg_WBB
 
New Britain, CT – Led by the Northeast Conference's reigning and six-time NEC Rookie of the Week Jasmine Nwajei (Rockaway Park, NY/Murry Bergtraum), the reigning conference Player of the Week in center Ugo Nwaigwe (Valley Stream, NY/Valley Stream South), and sophomore shooter Jordyn Peck (Shaker Heights, OH/Shaker Heights), the Wagner women's basketball team looks to return to its winning ways tonight when the Seahawks meet Central Connecticut tonight at 7:00 pm.
 
Wagner, under the direction of second-year head coach Lisa Cermignano, saw its three-game winning streak come to an end in a 77-51 loss at LIU Brooklyn on Saturday as the Seahawks enter tonight's play with NEC record of 7-8 and an overall mark to 8-18. Despite the loss to the Blackbirds, the Seahawks remain in seventh place and very much in the picture for a berth in next month's NEC Tournament which features the top eight finishers among the 10 conference teams.
 
The Green & White can clinch their first conference tournament appearance since 2009-2010 with a win tonight over the Blue Devils. With three regular season games remaining, any combination of one Wagner win or one Central Connecticut loss will lock up Wagner and NEC berth. The seven NEC wins totaled by Wagner to this point are the most in 10 years, since the 2003-2004 team went 8-10 in league play. In addition, the eight total wins amassed by Wagner this season are the most since 2010-2011 when the Seahawks went 12-17.
 
With ninth-place Central Connecticut posting a 63-53 win over Sacred Heart on Saturday, the Blue Devils kept their NEC Tourney hopes alive and are now 4-11 in conference. Following Saturday's win over Wagner, LIU Brooklyn remains in eighth place with a league mark of 6-9. Fairleigh Dickinson, in 10^th place at 1-14, has been eliminated from the conference tournament race thus Wagner, LIU Brooklyn and Central Connecticut are in competition for the final two spots.
 
Against Central Connecticut, the Seahawks will be looking to avenge an 80-71 loss to the Blue Devils suffered back on January 11 at the Spiro Center. In this first meeting, Peck poured in a career-high 30 points, which came on the heels of a previous career-high 29-point outing vs. Bryant (1/6) five days earlier. Peck's 30-point outburst marked the first time a Seahawk hit the 30-point mark since Kelly Clark tossed in 30 vs. NJIT on December 7, 2010. and are also 1-2 in league play.

Nwajei had 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists while Nwaigwe added 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting from the field. Central Connecticut was paced by versatile guard Jessica Babe who had 19 points, seven rebounds and six boards, while Kaley Watras and Lauren Arbogast added 15 and 14 points, respectively.
 
Peck is Wagner's leading scorer at 18.5 ppg. overall and second on the team in NEC games at 19.5. Nwajei is second on the team in overall scoring at 17.7 per game, which ranks fifth nationally, and tops the Seahawks with an NEC scoring average at 22.5 per outing.
 
Nwaigwe ranks second nationally in blocks per game (4.04) and is the Seahawks' single-season record-holder with 105 rejections.  In Wagner's 67-48 win over Fairleigh Dickinson, Nwaigwe swatted away a school-record and conference-tying 13 shots while completing Wagner's first-ever triple-double with 12 points and 19 rebounds to go with those 13 blocks. Jennifer Hamson, a 6-7 senior center from BYU, leads the nation in blocked shots at 4.21 per game (118 blocks in 28 games).

Follow Wagner Athletics on Twitter (@wagnerathletics) for all the latest news and updates on the athletic department, @WagSwagg_WBB for news and updates on the women's basketball program and @CERMIGNANO for news on the second-year coach