Pictured Above: Junior Guard Jordyn Peck (Photo by Dave Saffran)

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Game Notes: Wagner I Bryant

Smithfield, RI - The Wagner women's basketball team looks to even its Northeast Conference (NEC) record at 3-3 when the Seahawks meet the Bryant University Bulldogs in a 5:00 pm, Martin Luther King Day Tip today at the Chace Center.
 
The Seahawks, who are 4-12 overall on the season, enter today's play following a tough 72-70 loss at Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday in a game that saw Wagner overcome a 16-point deficit in taking a late lead, before the Knights won it on a Kelsey Cruz layup with two seconds to play. The Bulldogs, who sit atop the NEC standings in a three-way tie with Central Connecticut and Mount St. Mary's at 4-1, bring an overall record of 11-5 into today's play, and are coming off of their first conference loss, a 70-59 defeat on Saturday at Central Connecticut.
 
About Wagner
The Seahawks are led by sophomore guard Jasmine Nwajei (Rockaway Park, NY/Murry Bergtraum), who is ranked No. 2 in the NEC in scoring at 22.7 per game, trailing only Saint Francis U senior guard Alexa Heyward (24.1), and No. 8 nationally.  The 5-8 Nwajei enters today's contest having scored 880 career points in just 45 career games. Junior 5-6 guard Jordyn Peck (Shaker Heights. OH/Shaker Heights) averages 14.6 per game and has 1,085 career points to her credit, which ranks No. 20 on the Seahawk all-time list. Sophomore 5-8 guard Lyndsay Rowe (South River, NJ/St. John Vianney), who tallied all 15 of her points in the second half at FDU, checks in at 7.2 points per game and is averaging an NEC-leading 44.9 percent from three-point range.
 
Last Time Out
Sophomore guard Jasmine Nwajei (Rockaway Park, NY/Murry Bergtraum) poured in a game-high 31 points  and sophomore guard Lyndsay Rowe (South River, NJ/St. John Vianney) scored all 15 of her points in the second half before Kelsey Cruz hit a driving layup with two seconds left to play as was Fairleigh Dickinson escaped with a 72-70 win. With 1.6 seconds remaining, Wagner, which overcame a 16-point first-half deficit in taking the lead late, had a chance to pull out the win as the Seahawks quickly worked the ball up court but a three-point try by redshirt-sophomore guard Jazmine Hamlet (New York, NY/Francis Lewis) bounded off the front of the rim as the final buzzer sounded. Nwajei shot 13-of-28 from the floor en route to her 31-point output, including 3-of-7 from three-point range, in addition to dishing out a game-high seven assists, grabbing seven rebounds and coming up with three steals. After going scoreless in the first half, the 5-8, left-handed Rowe went 5-of-7 from the floor following intermission, 2-of-4 from three-point range and a perfect 3-of-3 from the free throw line in totaling her 15 second-half points.

About Bryant
Bryant is the conference's top scoring and rebounding team, and also the league's most balanced unit, with four players averaging double figures, led by 5-11 junior small forward who averages a double-double at 15.6 points and 11.5 rebounds. Junior guard Tiersa Winder, at 5-8, checks in at 14.7 points per game while 5-6 senior guard Jennifer Bailey and 5-7 freshman guard Ivory Bailey average 13.5 and 12.1 points, respectively. Rucker, is the reigning NEC Player of the Week. Rucker put forth a career-best performance as Bryant ran its win streak to five on Monday night, scoring 28 points in 27 minutes of action during an 87-83 victory over Saint Francis U. Rucker, who pulled down 16 rebounds for the second straight game, shot 53.3 percent from the floor and was terrific at the charity stripe. She sank 12 of 14 free throw attempts including a pair with 00:03 remaining to seal the victory. Two days earlier, Rucker victimized Fairleigh Dickinson with 19 points, 16 rebounds and two assists. She played 39 of a possible 40 minutes in the 82-77 triumph. Ivory Bailey maintained her stronghold on the NEC Rookie of the Week award. En-route to earning the honor for the second week in a row, and the fourth time this season, the freshman guard reached double figures in scoring during both of Bryant's NEC victories last week. The Keystone State product averaged 15.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists per contest. Playing a full 40 minutes, Bailey poured in 19 points against Fairleigh Dickinson (1/10). Her four free throws during the final minute helped seal the victory. She proceeded to contribute 12 points (all in the first half) and seven rebounds to the winning effort against Saint Francis (1/12) two nights later.
 
All-Time Series
This is the 10^th all-time meeting between the schools and Bryant holds an 8-1 lead in the all-time series. After dropping an 80-63 home decision to the Bulldogs in last year's first meeting on January 6, the Seahawks earned their first-ever win over Bryant on February 10, with a 78-64 road win.

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 WAGNER 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 20th-place all time with 1,085 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."
 
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
 
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