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Pictured Above: Freshman forward Samantha Sullivan hit two layups and had a key offensive rebound down the stretch of Saturdaty's comeback win over LIU Brooklyn
(Photo by Dave Saffran)

Staten Island, NY - The Wagner women's basketball team looks to improve to 3-1 in the Northeast Conference (NEC) when the Seahawks host defending league champion Robert Morris tonight, looking to build on Saturday's thrilling 72-69 comeback win over LIU Brooklyn which featured sophomore guard Jasmine Nwajei (Rockaway Park, NY/Murry Bergtraum) scoring 20 of her game-high 37 points in the final six minutes, in a game seen live on ESPN 3.
 
Tonight's visit by RMU marks the first meeting between the schools since February 3, 2014 when Nwajei and backcourt mate Jordyn Peck (Shaker Heights, OH/Shaker Heights) tossed in 22 and 21 points, respectively, in leading the Seahawks to an impressive 67-51 home win, which snapped a 17-game, decade-long, losing streak to the Colonials. This victory marked Wagner's first over the Colonials since February 7, 2004 when the Green & White earned a 56-51 win in Moon Township, PA.
 
The win also evened last season's series with RMU and avenged a 74-63 defeat at Robert Morris on January 20. Although Robert Morris has won 17 of the last 18 meetings. Wagner still holds a 30-26 lead in the all-time series, including a 16-10 mark on Grymes Hill.
 
Following her 37-point outing vs. the Blackbirds, which was Nwajei's fifth 30-plus scoring game of the season, the 5-8 scoring dynamo's average is now up to 23.5 per game, which pushes her slightly ahead of Saint Francis U guard Alexa Heyward. A 5-8 guard as well, Heyward scored 30 points in Saturday's  82-77 loss to Sacred Heart, and now averages 23.4 per outing.
 
Wagner enters tonight's tilt having won three of its last four games in improving to 4-10 overall and 2-1 in league, while the Colonials are 3-11 on the season and 1-2 in the NEC.

Tonight's contest caps a three-game NEC road stretch for the Colonials as RMU dropped the first two, falling at Saint Francis U on January 5 (71-68) and at Central Connecticut (63-46) on Saturday. Robert Morris, led by 12^th-year head coach Sal Buscaglia, is paced in scoring by sophomore guard Anna Niki Stamolamprou who checks in at 14.6 points per game, followed by junior guard Ashley Ravelli and freshman forward Megan Smith who average 8.7 and 8.5, respectively.

The accolades continued to stream in for Jasmine Nwajei last week when she was named the College Sports Madness Mid-Major Player of the Week and the Corvias ECAC Division I Metro/Upstate Co-Player of the Week, while copping her third consecutive Northeast Conference (NEC) Player of the Week honor.

NWAJEI'S TOP 5 CAREER SCORING DAYS
1. 40 - vs. Columbia...............12/30/14
2. 39 - at Vermont.................12/14/14
3. 37 – vs. LIU Brooklyn.........1/10/15
4. 32 - at VCU........................ 11/14/14
5. 32 - vs. Yale....................... 12/17/14 

Top Scoring Games in Seahawk History
1.   Stephanie Samuels vs. FDU, 2-18-86................ 43
2.   Jasmine Nwajei vs. Columbia, 12-30-14........ 40
3.   Jasmine Nwajei at Vermont, 12-14-14...... ......39
4.  Jasmine Nwajei vs. LIU Brooklyn…………….........37
5.   Meredith Kerns vs. Drexel, 11-28-01................. .34
      Susan Moffat vs. Cleveland St., 12-28-95.........34
      Stephanie Samuels at Seton Hall, 1-20-86......34
      Tricia Hoff vs. Jersey City State, 2-16-78.......... 34
9.   Joy Gallagher vs. Boston U., 12-30-03...............33
      Jenny Frazier vs. New Hampshire, 12-3-95.......33
      Kristee Chaplin at FDU, 1-26-95....................... . 33
      Jenny Frazier at FDU, 2-16-94.......................... .  33
      Stephanie Samuels at LIU, 1-7-86.....................  33
      Stephanie Samuels at Monmouth, 1-5-85........33
      Tricia Hoff vs. Mercey, 2-18-78........................ ..  33
 
PECK REACHES 1,000-POINT MARK DURING CAREER-HIGH 31-POINT OUTING VS. COLUMBIA
Junior guard Jordyn Peck (Shaker Heights, OH/Shaker Heights) became the 24th player in Wagner women's basketball history to reach the 1,000-point mark when she made the first of two free throws during the first half of the Seahawks' 97-86 win over Columbia (12/30), en route to a career-high 31-point outing. Peck, who enters the Robert Morris game in 2^1st  place all time with 1,065 career points, connected on 8-of-18 shots, including 5-of-7 from three-point range, and 10-of-11 from the charity stripe, vs. .the Lions. The 31-point outburst bettered her previous career high of 30 which the crafty lefthander tallied vs. Central Connecticut (1/11/14).

SEAHAWKS LOOK TO BUILD ON LAST SEASON'S 8-10 NEC MARK, APPEARANCE IN CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
The  NEC's most improved team last season, Wagner closed the 2013-2014 campaign with an overall mark of 9-21, 8-10 in league play second-year head coach Lisa Cermignano, after going 3-26 the previous season with a conference record of 2-16.

PLAYING TOUGH NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE IS THE CERMIGNANO WAY
Wagner opened the 2014-15 season with a two-game road swing, beginning with a matchup at VCU of the Atlantic 10 (11/14) followed by a contest at No. 8 Maryland (11/16). The Seahawks' home opener was against No. 17 Rutgers (L 81-53). Led by Hall of Fame head coach C. Vivian Stringer, the 2014 WNIT Champions and the first Big 10 opponent to ever play at the Spiro Sports Center. The demanding non-conference schedule continued with a Nov. 30 game at Big East member St. John's (L 71-49). Third-year head coach Lisa Cermignano believes that last season's tough non-conference schedule helped prepare her team for NEC play and was a big reason for the Seahawks' six-game league improvement. After playing a non-league schedule that included heavyweights Kentucky, Rutgers, VCU and Pittsburgh, the Green & White went 8-10 in the NEC and qualified for the league tournament for the first time since 2010.
 
CERMIGNANO ON THE NEC
"The conference is wide open this year," Lisa Cermignano said. "The league graduated two major players, one at Saint Francis U (Alli Williams ) and the other at Robert Morris (Artemis Spanou ), there's not a powerhouse back that's won the last couple of years consistently, and we do have a lot of returners. As I said, we're still very young but the sky's the limit. We're really just building for the next couple of years."

NWAJEI BACK-TO-BACK CO-NEC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Somerset, NJ – Sophomore guard Jasmine Nwajei (Rockaway Park, NY/Murry Bergtraum)continued to score at a blistering pace last week, pouring in 32 points vs. Yale on December 17, followed by a 28-point outing in the December 21 victory over Stony Brook, retaining a share of the NEC Player of the Week award for the second consecutive week. The 2014 NEC Rookie of the Year, who was named player of the week along with Sacrd Heart's Gabby Washington,  averaged 30.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.0 steals per game in the two games last week. The 5-8 Nwajei powered the Seahawks to their first win of the season by scoring 26 of her game-high 28 points in the second half in leading the Seahawks to a 76-70 win over America East member Stony Brook. The New York City product shot 60 percent from the floor, including a 2-for-4 clip from beyond the arc, while also contributing six rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals in the triumph. Earlier in the week, she accounted for nearly 50 percent of the team's entire scoring output against Yale. Shooting 13-for-28 from the field, Nwajei scored 32 points in 31 minutes against the Bulldogs. Last week's performances followed her 39-point explosion at Vermont (12/14).
 
Seahawks Picked 4th In NEC Poll, Jasmine Nwajei Named To Preseason All-NEC Team
Brooklyn, NY (Oct. 21)– The Wagner women's basketball team, last season's most-improved Northeast Conference (NEC) squad, was picked fourth in the 2014-2015 Preseason Poll while sophomore guard Jasmine Nwajei (Rockaway Park, NY/Murry Bergtraum) was named to the Preseason All-NEC Team, in a vote of the league's head coaches and announced today at NEC Social Media Day held today at the Barclays Center.
 
Defending champion Robert Morris was picked first, garnering five of the 10 first-place votes. Sacred Heart was chosen second, with four first-place votes, St.  Francis Brooklyn was third, with Wagner fourth and Saint Francis U rounding out the top five.
 
Bryant was picked to finish sixth, Mount St. Mary's seventh, LIU Brooklyn checked in at eighth place with Central Connecticut and Fairleigh Dickinson finishing in a tie for ninth place.

2014-2015 NEC Preseason Poll
1. Robert Morris (5)
2. Sacred Heart (4)
3. St. Francis Brooklyn (1)
4. Wagner
5. Saint Francis U
6. Bryant
7. Mount St. Mary's
8. LIU Brooklyn
9. (tie) Central Connecticut
    Fairleigh Dickinson

2014-15 Preseason All-NEC Women's Basketball
Senior               Jenniqua Bailey - Bryant
Senior               Alexa Hayward - Saint Francis U
Sophomore      Jasmine Nwajei - Wagner
Senior               Eilidh Simpson - St. Francis Brooklyn
Senior               Gabrielle Washington - Sacred Heart
 
Follow Wagner Athletics on Twitter (@wagnerathletics) for all the latest news and updates on the athletic department, @Wag_Swagg for news and updates on the women's basketball program.