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Staten Island, NY – The Wagner women's basketball team fell behind by 18 points late in the first half, fought back gallantly in the second half to draw to within two with 3:18 to play, before Mount St. Mary's pulled away in the final minutes to post a 64-52 Northeast Conference (NEC) victory this afternoon.
 
With the loss, the Seahawks, who entered the game tied for sixth place in the league standings, fall to 8-9 in the NEC and 9-19 overall while the second-place Mountaineers improve to 13-4 in the conference, 18-11 overall.
 
Wagner will round out the regular season with a meeting at Saint Francis U on Monday, March 3 before opening the NEC Tournament with a quarterfinal round game on Sunday, March 9. The opponent and time of this contest is still to be determined.
 
The Mountaineers, who have now won eight straight games, have a chance to earn their first Northeast Conference regular season title since 2001 if they can win at Robert Morris on Monday.
 
Freshman point guard Jasmine Nwajei (Rockaway Park. NY/Murry Bergtraum) paced the Seahawks with 19 points vs. the Mount, 15 of which came in the second half,  while her backcourt mate, sophomore Jordyn Peck (Shaker Heights, OH/Shaker Heights), added 13. Jenn Carney led the Mountaineers with 15 points while Kayla Grossett and Ashley Christie added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
 
The Mount opened the game with an 8-0 run and held Wagner scoreless for the first 4:22 of the half.
An old-fashioned three-point play by Mathews with 8:39 left in the first half made it a 17-7 Mountaineer lead. The Mount then reeled off the next eight points for the team's largest lead of the game of 18 points at 25-7 with 5:25 remaining in the opening half. Sydney Henderson and Carney keyed the 8-0 burst with three-pointers.
 
Just when it appeared the Mount was set to deliver a knockout blow, the Seahawks went on a 9-2 run to close the half, narrowing the deficit to 29-19 at the half. Three-point jumpers by freshman Taylor Butigian (Rockaway Park, NY/Christ The King) and Peck, combined with a Peck layup to end the half, are what carried Wagner during its run.
 
Wagner shot just 7-of-29 (24.1 percent) in the first half and 2-of-15 (13.3 percent) from beyond the arc, as the Seahawks misfired on their first 13 three-point attempts.
 
The Seahawks' defensive intensity held the Mount scoreless to for the first 6:11 into the second half on Henderson's free throw for a 29-25 edge. A 7-2 spurt by the Mount opened a 36-27 bulge before Wagner fought back and when Peck drained a three-pointer with 9:01 to go, the Seahawks were to within three at 41-38.
 
Wagner would get as close as two points, at 48-46, on a pair of Peck free throws with 3:18 to play. Christie than shook loose for a pair of layups to make it a 52-46 lead and the veteran Mountaineers made 12-of-14 free throws over the final 1:21 in posting the 12-point victory, its seventh straight over Wagner.
 
For the game, the Mount held a 37%-30% edge in shooting, while holding a slim 42-40 edge in the rebounding department. The Mountaineers led in points off turnovers, 16-8, and in bench points, 24-12. Wagner held a 22-18 edge in point
 
NOTES  – Prior to the game, the Wagner women's basketball team saluted its three seniors  - Laura Amorosa (Kirkland, Quebec/ Phillips Academy), Stephanie Blais (Sherbrooke, Quebec/Montmorency) and former player and manager Melanie Williamson (Baltimore, MD/Baltimore Polytechnic Institute)
 
Redshirt-sophomore center Ugo Nwaigwe (Valley Stream, NY/Valley Stream South), who entered the game ranked No. 2 in blocked shots per game (4.04), recorded three blocks vs. the Mount. In doing so, she upped her school single-season blocks record to 112. She is fourth on the Wagner career blocked shots list and is now within six blocks of surpassing Suzanne Johnson of Monmouth on the NEC all-time single-season list as Johnson swatted away 117 shots in 1991.
 
NEC Single-Season Blocks
1. Suzanne Johnson (Monmouth)            117         1991
2. Ugo Nwaigwe (Wagner)                   112         2014
3. Sandra Cook (Monmouth)                     104        1988
4. Kaitlin Sowinski (Sacred Heart)            101        2008
5. Kaitlin Sowinski (Sacred Heart)              97        2009
6. Linda Wilson (Monmouth)                        84        1987
7. Vanessa Blair (Mount St. Mary's)            77        1990
     Suzanne Johnson (Monmouth)               77        1990
9. Suzanne Johnson (Monmouth)                75        1989
10. Vesna Drazetic (Saint Francis U)          70        1991
 
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