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Staten Island, NY – Sophomore guard Jasmine Nwajei (Rockaway, NY/Murry Bergtraum) scored 20 of her game-high 37 points in the final six minutes, keyed by a pair of three-point jumpers in the final 90 seconds, as the Wagner women's basketball team overcame a 17-point second-half deficit in defeating LIU Brooklyn 72-69.
 
The Seahawks, who have now won three of their last four games, improve to 4-10 on the season and 2-1 in Northeast Conference play while the Blackbirds fall to 4-10, 1-2 in league. The Seahawks are right back it on Monday, January 12 when they host defending NEC Champion Robert Morris in a 7:00 p.m. tip-off. The Colonials are 3-11 on the season and 1-2 in NEC play following a 63-46 loss at Central Connecticut today.

In a game that was seen live on ESPN 3, Wagner was down 52-35 with 14:18 left, and stilled trailed by 12 at 59-47 with just six minutes to go, when Nwajei and the Seahawks staged their furious comeback by outscoring LIU 25-10 down the stretch, with Nwajei tallying 20 of those points.
 
Trailing by that 59-47 count, the 5-8 point guard who entered the game ranked No. 11 nationally in scoring, at 22.5 points per game, Nwajei exploded for 10 consecutive Wagner points, accounting for all of the scoring in a 10-3 run that made it a 62-57 game with 4:07 left.
 
Nwajei, the reigning College Sports Madness Mid-Major, ECAC and NEC Player of the Week, got it started with a three-pointer at the 6:02 mark to make it 59-50. She then came up with a steal at 5:23 and was fouled at 5:06, making both free throws to cut the deficit to 59-52. After Jolanna Ford made 1-of-2 free throws at 4:56 to push the lead back to 10 at 62-52, Nwajei slashed to the basket on two straight possessions for a layup at 4:32 to make it 62-54, followed by an old-fashioned three-point play at 4:07, with the free throw drawing the Seahawks to within 62-57.
 
Bhasin made 1-of-2 from the line at the 3:42 mark to make it 63-57 before Nwajei delivered a bullet pass to freshman Samantha Sullivan (Manasquan,NJ/Manasquan), who was alone under the basket, and the 6-1 freshman converted a layup to make it 63-59 at the 3:35 mark. Shanic Vaughan then split a pair from the line with 3:21 to go for LIU, which was followed by two Peck free throws at 3:06, that made it a 64-61 game.
 
With 2:23 left, Sullivan, who finished with a career-high four points, came up with a huge offensive rebound off of a missed three-point try by sophomore Lyndsay Rowe (South River, NJ/St. John Vianney). Following a Wagner 30-second timeout and a turnover by each team, Nwajei was fouled by Shanovia Dove at the 1:58 mark, which resulted in two made free throws, cutting the deficit to one at 64-63.
 
On LIU's next possession, Bhasin misfired on a three-pointer at the 1:42 mark with Nwajei chasing down the rebound. Wagner worked the ball around the perimeter until Nwajei fired home her first of two clutch treys at 1:30, putting the Seahawks in front, 66-64.
 
With 1:30 left in the game and Wagner trailing 64-63, Nwajei drained a a three-point jumper to give Wagner its first lead since the midway point of the first half, at 66-64. LIU forged the game's seventh tie at 66-66 with 1:10 left on a pair of free throws from junior guard Sophie Bhasin, who wound up with a career-high 35 on the afternoon. On the Seahawks' ensuing possession, Nwajei drained another three-pointer, this one coming with 49 seconds remaining, making it 69-66.

Nwajei then came up big on the defensive end, recording her game-high sixth steal, with 37 seconds left. At the 17-second mark and Wagner lesding by that same 69-66 margin, junior guard Jordyn Peck (Shaker Heights, OH/Shaker Heights) made 1-of-2 free throws which gave the Seahawks a 70-67 lead. Nwajei was then whistled for her fifth foul with nine seconds left, while defending Bhasin on a three-point attempt from the left baseline.

The junior calmly made all three free throws to make it 70-69. Following a Seahawk timeout, Peck was fouled after receiving the inbounds pass with seven seconds to go. The 5-6 lefty knocked down both of ther free throws, to make it a three-point game and the Blackbirds were unable to get off the final shot as the Green & White walked away with the 72-69 victory. Peck finished with 14 points on the afternoon, 11 coming in the second half.
  
For the game, the 5-8 Nwajei, who was the 2013-14 NEC Rookie of the Year and the lone non-senior on the 2014-15 NEC Preseason Team, shot 13-of-26 from the floor, including a 4-of-6 effort from three-point range, while going 7-of-9 from the free throw line, along with six steals, four rebounds and three assists.
 
After scoring 11 points on 4-of-12 shooting in a first half that saw Wagner fall behind by a count of 37-29, Nwajei took over the game in the second half, shooting 9-of-14 from the field (2-of-3 from beyond the arc), before fouling out with nine seconds left to play.

After both teams began the game cold from the field, combining to go just 2-of-15 at the outset, the Blackbirds led 28-27 before closing the first half on a 9-2 run over the final 2:16, with all nine of those points coming from Bhasin, in seizing the 37-29 halftime lead. Bhasin, who was coming off of a career-high 27 in an 81-71 win over Fairleigh Dickinson (1/5), led all led all scorers with 19 first-half points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor and a perfect 5-of-5 from the free throw line.
 
When the Blackbirds opened the second half on a 15-6 burst, it turned into o 24-8 run bridging the halves, widening what was a 28-27 LIU lead into that 52-35 bulge.  LIU entered the game No.1 in the NEC and No. 15 nationally at 12.2 steals per game, a defensive philosophy predicated on full and half-court pressure, and for the first 30-plus minutes of the game, that pressure had its effect on Wagner.
 
But it was the Seahawks' pressing defense over the game's final six minutes that, along with Nwajei's hot hand, turned the tide in the home team's favor. In the second half, Wagner shot a season-best 57.7 percent, limiting the Blackbirds too 33.3 percent shooting in the second stanza, while forcing LIU into committing 14 of its 21 turnovers.
 
For the game, the Seahawks wound up at 44.4 percent from the field while LIU was at 38.2 percent.

NOTES - Following her 37-point game, Nwajei's scoring average is now up to 23.5 per game, which pushes her slightly ahead of Saint Francis U guard Alexa Heyward. A 5-8 as well, Heyward scored 30 points in today's 82-77 loss to Sacred Heart, now averages 23.4 per outing.