2014 NEC Women's Basketball Tournament Headquarters/ 2014 NEC Championship Bracket

Google Hangout with Ugo Nwaigwe and the NEC's Ralph Ventre/ Video Profile on Co-Captains Mel Williamson & Laura Amorosa
 
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Emmitsburg, MD - The No. 7 Wagner Seahawks (8-10 NEC, 9-20 overall) travel to the No. 2 seed Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers (13-5 NEC, 18-12 overall) on Sunday, March 9 at 2:00 pm in a Northeast Conference Quarterfinal Round Contest.
 
The Seahawks and Mountaineers will be meeting for the 41st time and the Mount holds a 35-15 lead in the all-time series. These teams met twice this season, with the Mountaineers coming out on top both times. On January 18, the Mount posted an 89-78 win and just last week, on March 1 in the penultimate game of the regular season for both clubs, the Mount earned a 64-52 victory.
 
These schools have met twice previously in NEC Tournament play, in 1991-92 and in 2003-04.
 
Previous NEC Tournament Meetings Between Wagner and the Mount
March 7, 1992:               First Round: Mount St.. Mary's 56, Wagner 50 (Emmitsburg, MD)
March 4, 2000:               Wagner 61, Mount St. Mary's 57 (Trenton, NJ)           
 
When the Northeast Conference (NEC) announced its individual award winners and All-League members on Thursday, following a vote of the league's 10 head coaches, it marked a historic moment in the history of the Wagner women's basketball program.
 
Freshman point guard Jasmine Nwajei (Rockaway Park, NY/Murry Bergtraum) was named the 2014 Northeast Conference (NEC) Rookie of the Year, and earned a spot on the league's second team and the All-Rookie Team, while redshirt-sophomore center Ugo Nwaigwe (Valley Stream, NY/Valley Stream South) was tabbed as the league's Defensive Player of the Year and a member of the All-Defensive Team.
 
Nwajei becomes just the second NEC Rookie of the Year in Wagner women's basketball program history, joining Seahawk Hall of Fame member Cynthia Quinlan (1986-1987) in this exclusive club. Nwaigwe is the first Seahawk to ever be named Defensive Player of the Year. The 5-8 New York City guard also becomes the Seahawks' first All-NEC Team member since Carrie Walker was named to the second team after the 2003-2004 regular season.
 
 
After going 2-16 in league play last season, Wagner quadrupled its conference win total in 2013-2014, earning the No. 7 seed in the NEC Tourney. The Green & White will travel to No. 2 seed Mount St. Mary's on Sunday at 2:00 pm.
 
The NEC's most improved team by every measure, the 9-20 Seahawks also feature the prodigious talents of sophomore guard Jordyn Peck (Shaker Heights, OH/Shaker Heights), a member of the 2012-2013 NEC All-Rookie Team, whose 20.3-point scoring average led the Seahawks and ranked No. 4 in the NEC.
 
Nwajei was a six-time Northeast Conference (NEC) Rookie of the Week selection this season, which ties a school record (Meredith Kearns, 1998-1999) and holds the Wagner freshman record for points (500) and assists (127). In 2013-2014, Nwajei was the second-leading scorer in the NEC (conference games) at 21.9 points per game and No. 1 in assists at 5.53 helpers per game. She scored 20 or more points in 12 of the 17 NEC games in which she played and topped the 20-point mark 13 times overall.
 
Overall, Nwajei has scored 25 or more points in a game eight times on the season, and tallied a career-high 29 points in a 67-48 win over Fairleigh Dickinson (FDU) on Feb. 17. That night, she narrowly missed a triple-double, adding 11 rebounds and nine assists to her 29-point total. Nwajei trumpeted her arrival to the college game in the season opener on November 10 when she scored the first five points of the game en route to a 19-point outing vs. No. 7 Kentucky.
 
Nwaigwe enters the NEC Tournament ranked No. 2 in the nation in blocked shots per game (4.00) and No. 1 in the NEC in both conference and overall games. Her 112 blocks easily shattered the previous Wagner single-season school record set by Ali Ridge in 2005-2006. She enters Sunday's play five blocks shy of the all-time NEC single-season blocks record of 117 set by Monmouth's Suzanne Johnson in the 1990-1991 season.
 
On February 17, the 6-3 Nwaigwe had an eye-opening 13 blocks vs. Fairleigh Dickinson, breaking both the previous Seahawk single-game record for blocks (10) and NEC single-game record (12). The 13-block game also tied for seventh on the NCAA Division I all-time single-game list and is just three shy of the all-time Division I mark of 16 and ties for the top shot-blocking game in NEC history. In that FDU game, she recorded the first triple-double in school history, with 12 points and 19 rebounds, to go with the 13 blocks.
 
While Nwaigwe's shot-blocking acumen gains most of the notoriety, she also ranked No. 1 in the NEC in field goal percentage at .630, while also ranking fourth in rebounding with an average of 10.2 boards per game. Nwaigwe delivered a mammoth 24-rebound game in a 16-point win over first-place Robert Morris on Feb. 3, which ties for the third-highest rebounding game in Wagner history and ties for the fifth-highest game in NEC history.

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