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Game Notes: Wagner

Pictured Above: Sophomore Forward  Jackie Dluhi (Photo by Dave Saffran)

New Britain, CT -  The Wagner women's basketball team, which woke up to five inches of snow on the ground here in the Nutmeg State, returns to action today in a 1:00 p.m. matchup at Central Connecticut.

The Seahawks enter this contest with a 2-4 record in the Northeast Conference (NEC) and a 4-13 overall mark. In Central Connecticut, Wagner will be facing the NEC's surprise team to this point. Picked to finish in a tie for ninth place, with Fairleigh Dickinson, in the 2014-2015 NEC Preseason Poll, the Blue Devils are tied for first in the league standings. Entering Saturday's play, CCSU and Bryant sport identical 5-1 league marks while the Blue Devils are 9-8 overall.

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 22.8 per game, trailing only Saint Francis U senior guard Alexa Heyward (23.4), and No. 8 nationally.  The 5-8 Nwajei enters today's contest having scored 904 career points in just 46 career games. Junior 5-6 guard Jordyn Peck (Shaker Heights. OH/Shaker Heights) averages 14.1 per game and has 1,099 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 career-high points in the second half at FDU (1/17) two games ago, checks in at 7.2 points per game and is averaging an NEC-leading 45.5 percent from three-point range.

Last Time Out
Breanna Rucker recorded game highs with 27 points and 15 rebounds and was one of four players in double figures as the Bryant University women's basketball team posted an 84-48 Martin Luther King Day victory over Wagner on Monday night. In dropping their third straight game, the Seahawks fell to 2-4 in  the NEC and 4-13 overall while the Bulldogs moved to 5-1, in a tie with CCSU atop the league standings, while improving to 12-5 overall. Nwajei  led the Seahawks with 24 points. The 5-8 Nwajei also came up with five steals, while dishing out out assists and grabbing four rebounds. Nwajei was the lone Seahawk in double figures as Peck and Rowe added seven points apiece. The Bulldogs jumped out to a 47-25 halftime lead before opening the second half on a 15-1 run in extending the lead to 62-26, en route to the win. Rucker was one of three Bulldogs to notch double-doubles as Morgan Olander had 17 points and 11 rebounds while Ivory Bailey finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Bryant held a 24-18 advantage in points in the paint and a 25-8 edge in second-chance points.

About CCSU
Chose tied for ninth on the NEC Preseason Poll, along with FDU, the Blue Devils have opened eyes by racing out to a 5-1 NEC start, which tied Bryant for first-place honors, and are 9-8 overall. CCSU is led in scoring by junior forward Tejahne Malone who checks in at 10.1 per game, followed by junior guard Kayla Miller and freshman guard Camden Musgrave who check in at 8.6 and 8.4 points per game, respectively. On Monday, the Blue Devils posted a 75-70 home win over LIU Brooklyn, overcoming a 12-point second-half deficit in the process. Senior Amanda Harrington, a 6-3 center, posted her second straight double-double, scoring 15 points and grabbing 12 rebounds, Malone recorded  a team-high 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting and 7-of-9 from the line, while grabbing five boards. The victory, which came on the heels of handing Bryant its only league loss of the season, by a 70-59 verdict (1/19), marked CCSU's fifth win in the last six games.

All-Time Series
This is the 36^th all-time meeting between the schools and Central Connecticut holds a 21-14 lead in the all-time series. The teams split their two meetings last season with each winning on the other's home floor. On January 11, the Blue Devils earned an 80-71 win on Grymes Hill before the Seahawks turned the tables in New Britain, posting a 75-63 victory on February 24 in a game that clinched Wagner's first NEC Tournament berth in four years. The backcourt combination of Peck and Nwajei tossed in 25 points each to lead the Seahawks to victory.

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 CCSU game in 20th-place all time with 1,099 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
 
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.