Free Live Webcast on necfrontrow.com (Pete Mundo - Play-by-Play)

Live Stats I Live Stats (Media)

Game Notes: Wagner I CCSU
 
Staten Island, NY – The Wagner women's basketball team kicks off a doubleheader on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. when the Seahawks host Northeast Conference (NEC) rival Central Connecticut for the second time in a one-week span with the Green & White and Blue Devil men's teams to meet in the nightcap at 4:00 p.m.

Saturday is ALS Awareness Day and the Seahawk athletic department is supporting this effort with 10 percent of the proceeds from all ticket sales going from the Wagner-Central Connecticut doubleheader going to the ALS Association- Greater New York Chapter. Saturday is also Alumni Day when the Seahawk women's basketball program welcomes back all of its former letterwinners.

The Seahawks (4-15, 2-6 NEC) will be looking to snap a five-game losing streak opposite the league's surprise team, a Central Connecticut team that was picked tied for ninth in the NEC Preseason Poll, which enters play with an 11-8 overall record and a 7-1 conference mark and on a four-game winning streak.
 
Last Time Out
On Monday afternoon, sophomore guard Jasmine Nwajei (Rockaway Park, NY/Murry Bergtraum) poured in a game-high 34 points on 12-of-24 shooting but it was not enough to overcome a balanced effort by Saint Francis U as the Red Flash earned an 87-74 victory at the Spiro Sports Center. In addition 50 percent shooting afternoon, the 5-8 Nwajei was 9-of-11 from the free throw line while also contributing six rebounds, a game-high five steals and a team-high three assists. Sophomore guard Lyndsay Rowe (South River, NJ/St. John Vianney) added 13 points for the Seahawks on 4-of-9 shooting, while adding a team-high five assists, three rebounds and two steals. Up front, sophomore forward Taylor Butigian (Rockaway Park, NY/Christ the King) made her presence felt, pulling down a team-high 10 rebounds, while adding two assists and one blocked shot. For the Red Flash, Corissa Archer led four players in double figures with 22 points and Alexa Howard added 19, while Aisha Brock and Maya Waynn finished with 17 and 13 points, respectively.
 
Nwajei On Verge of Becoming First Seahawk Sophomore to Hit 1,000-Point Mark
Jasmine Nwajei, who leads the NEC in scoring at 23.4 points per game, enters the Central Connecticut game having scored 961 career points which leaves her just 39 away from becoming the 24th player in Wagner women's basketball history to reach the 1,000-point mark and, in the process, becoming the first sophomore in school history to reach 1,000. Earlier this season, junior guard Jordyn Peck (Shaker Heights, OH), Wagner's second-leading scorer at 13.9 per game, became the 24th Seahawk to reach this milestone and the 5-6 lefty is now in 19th on the all-time list with 1,123 career points, behind Jeanne Sullivan (1978-1982, who is in 18th place with 1,144 career points.
 
About CCSU
The Blue Devils enter Saturday's play on a four-game winning streak, with wins over Bryant, LIU Brooklyn, Wagner, and most recently, vs. St. Francis Brooklyn on Monday. In the 77-61 win over Wagner in Detrick Gymnasium last Saturday, 5-7 freshman guard Camden Musgrave scored a career-high 22 points en route to being named NEC Rookie of the Week.  On Monday, Musgrave followed up her career-high with a game-high 12 points in a 51-49 win over St. Francis Brooklyn in Brooklyn Heights, NY. Musgrave was crucial in the victory connecting on three-of-eight shooting from the floor, including two-of-six from distance and four-of-six from the charity stripe. Musgrave sealed the win for CCSU, hitting on three-of-four free throw attempts in the final minute.

All-Time Series
This is the 37^th all-time meeting between the schools and Central Connecticut holds a 22-14 lead in the all-time series following last Saturday's (1/24) 77-61 victory in New Britain, CT. 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 that night.

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 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.