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Game Notes: Wagner I Saint Francis U

Loretto, PA - The Wagner women's basketball team opens Northeast Conference (NEC) play at Saint Francis U on Saturday at 1:00 pm in a game that will feature the league's top two scorers in Seahawk sophomore guard Jasmine Nwajei (Rockaway Park, NY/Murry Bergtraum) and Red Flash senior guard Alexa Heyward, who average 23.1 and 24.7 ppg., respectively.

Wagner (2-9), which has won consecutive games over Stony Brook and Columbia, and Saint Francis U (1-10), open NEC play having both played extremely challenging non-conference schedules. The Seahawks have faced a pair of ranked foes in 2014 NCAA Final Four participant Maryland and 2014 WNIT Champion Rutgers, in addition to VCU, St. John's and Penn State. The Red Flash, meanwhile, have also met a pair of nationally-ranked teams in Tennessee and West Virginia, as well as Ohio State, Pittsburgh and Duquesne.
 
NWAJEI CONTINUES TO SPARKLE
Sophomore guard Jasmine Nwajei (Rockaway Park, NY/Murry Bergtraum) continues to score at a blistering pace, pouring in a career-high 40 points in leading the Seahawks to their second straight win, a 97-86 victory over Columbia on December 30. The 40-point outing topped her previous career high of 39 which she tossed in 16 days earlier (12/14) at Vermont. In her last four games, the 5-8 sophomore is averaging a staggering 34.8 points. The 2014 NEC Rookie of the Year has earned NEC Co-Player of the Week honors in each of the last two weeks.

NWAJEI AVERAGING 34.8 IN LAST FOUR GAMES


 


















NWAJEI'S TOP 5 CAREER SCORING DAYS
1. 40 - vs. Columbia...............12/30/14
2. 39 - at Vermont.................12/14/14
3. 32 - at VCU........................ 11/14/14
4. 32 - vs. Yale....................... 12/17/14
5.  29 - vs. FDU...................... 02/17/14
 
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.   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
8.   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 histioy 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 Saint Francis U game with 1,020 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).
 
ALL-TIME SERIES HISTORY
The matchup between the Seahawks and the Red Flash will mark the 61st all-time meeting between the schools and Saint Francis U holds a 40-20 lead in the series. Last season, the Red Flash won both meetings in stretching their winning streak over the Seahawks to seven games. The last Wagner win over Saint Francis U came on Jan. 4, 2010 when the Green & White posted a 76-74 overtime victory on the road.
 
SEAHAWKS LOOK TO BUILD ON LAST SEASON'S 8-10 NEC MARK, APPEARANCE KN 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."
 
UGO NWAIGWE LEAVES TEAM
Senior center Ugo Nwaigwe (Valley Stream, NY/Valley Stream South) left the Wagner women's team prior to the Dec. 2 contest at NJIT. 
 
"I'm very disappointed that Ugo has chosen to leave the Wagner women's basketball program but wish her the best in her academic and post-graduate pursuits," said head coach Lisa Cermignano. "As for its impact on our team, we have invested a lot of time in the development of Ugo and her significant role on this team. However, we are very confident in the young post players we have to fill this unexpected void.
 
"We are extremely excited for the start of conference play," Cermignano added.
 
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).
 
SUPERLATIVES, MILESTONES FROM 97-86 WIN OVER COLUMBIA LAST TIME OUT
The 97 points scored by Wagner today ties for the second-highest in school history, behind the school-record 99 vs. Mercy (1/22/91) and equals the 97 tallied vs. LIU Brooklyn on January 7, 1986. The 97-point outburst also set a Spiro Sports Center record, eclipsing the 82 points that Wagner recorded on two occasions, most recently on November 18, 2008 vs. NJIT.

Most Combined Points in Spiro Center History
The 183 points that Wagner and Columbia combined for is a Spiro Center record, bettering the 164 combined points the Seahawks and Saint Francis U combined for in an 88-76 Red Flash win on March 1, 1999 which came in an NEC Tournament game.
 
Nwajei's 40-Point Outburst No. 2 in School History
Jasmine Nwajei's 40-point performance vs. Columbia is the second-highest single-game performance in school history, just three points behind the 43 points scored by Seahawk Hall of Fame member Stephanie Samuels at  Fairleigh Dickinson (FDU) on February 18, 1986. Today's 40-point outburst by Nwajei also set a record for the most points ever scored in a game at the Spiro Center. The previous Spiro Center single-game scoring mark of 38 points was set by Quinnipiac's Ashlee Kelly (vs. FDU in NEC Tournament, 3/5/04)  and matched by Fairleigh Dickinson's Mariyah Laury in a regular season game vs. Wagner (2/7/11).
 
Nwajei's 40-Point Sets Spiro Center Record for a Wagner Player
The 40 points scored by Jasmine Nwajei sets a Spiro Center  single-game record by a Wagner player, as the previous high game by a Seahawk player at Spiro was the 34 scored by Meredith Kerns vs. Drexel (11/28/01).
 
Nwajei's Stat Line
Jasmine Nwajei shot 12-of-22 from the floor, including a 3-of-7 effort from three-point range, 13-of-15 from the line while pulling down 10 rebounds, dishing out five assists and coming up with five steals. The 15 free throws attempted and 13 made are both career highs.
 
Seventh Career Double-Double, Second of Season
For the 5-8 New York City guard, the 40-point, 10-rebound effort marked the seventh double-double of her career and second of the season.
 
Plethora of Season Highs
In the win over Columbia, Wagner set season highs in points (97), three-pointers made (9), three-point percentage (.556, 10-of-18), free throws made (31), attempted (35) and free throw percentage (.886), while tying for season highs in assists (12) and steals (11).
 
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.