Pictured above: Junior forward Jackie Dluhi (Chuck Thomas) Norfolk, VA – The Wagner women's basketball staged a furious, late rally before running out of time as the Seahawks dropped a 71-57 decision at Conference USA member Old Dominion on Sunday afternoon at the Ted Constant Center.
The Green & White (0-2), which opened the season with a 67-41 loss at Pittsburgh on Friday, had two players finish in double-figures on the afternoon, led by junior guard
Jasmine Nwajei (Rockaway Park, NY/ Murry Bergtraum), who finished with 24 points, 20 of which came in the second half. The lightning-quick, 5-8 Nwajei, who was the nation's second-leading scorer last season at 24.8 points per game, was a main catalyst in Wagner's comeback attempt, scoring 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting, including 2-of-3 from three-point range in the fourth quarter.
Classmate
Jackie Dluhi (Middletown, NJ/ Middletown South) set a career high in scoring on the afternoon, finishing the contest with 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting, eclipsing her previous career high of 10 which she recorded on January 3, 2015, at Saint Francis U. The 5-10 forward also connected on a pair of three-pointers, both from the top of the key, while pulling down seven rebounds.
Fifth-year senior guard
Alexis Smith (Medford, NY/St. John the Baptist Diocesan), a transfer from the University of Illinois, added eight points while 6-2 sophomore forward
Sofia Roma (Richmond Hill, NY/ Richmond Hill) grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds, seven of which came on the defensive glass.
Old Dominion (1-1) was paced by Jennie Simms, who led all scorers with 27 points on 9-of-21 shooting from the field, including 4-of-8 from three-point range as she was the lone Monarch to place in double figures while also tying for a team-high eight rebounds in the victory. Annika Holopainen added nine points while Makayla Timmons and Keyana Brown finished with eight points apiece.
The Seahawks and Lady Monarchs engaged in a back-and-forth opening quarter, with Dluhi leading the way for Wagner with 10 first-quarter points, on 4-of-6 shooting, including two three-pointers from the top of the circle.
The Seahawks trailed ODU by an 18-17 counts after one quarter, as they held the Lady Monarchs to just 38.1 percent shooting in the opening frame. Wagner, meanwhile, was able to convert on 42.9 percent from the field in that first quarter, despite being outrebounded by one, 18-17. After Smith knocked down an elbow jumper off a feed from Roma that trimmed the ODU lead to two, 23-21, the Lady Monarchs answered with a three-pointer from Simms that gave the home team a 26-21 lead with 6:26 left in the first half.
Both teams went cold from the floor for nearly three and a half minutes, before Holopainen was able to convert on a jumper to extend the ODU lead to seven, 28-21. The Monarch then scored four of the last six points of the half to take a nine-point lead, at 32-23, into the break.
The Seahawks converted on just 29.6 percent from the floor in the opening half (8-of-27) and were led by Dluhi's 10 points, all of which came in the first quarter while Roma pulled down six first-half boards.
Early in the third quarter, Nwajei was able to hit a tough, leaning jumper to trim the deficit to six at 33-27. On the ensuing ODU possession, Destinee Young fed Timmons, who launched a three-pointer to bring the lead back up to nine, 36-27, with 8:12 remaining in the third.
Dluhi then stuck a put-back jumper, after alertly grabbing an offensive rebound off a missed three-pointer by Nwajei, drawing a foul in the process. By converting the old-fashioned three-point play, Dluhi was up to 13 points on the day and Wagner was to within 10, at 40-30, with 6:54 left in the third.
Brown then triggered a 12-6 run by rattling home a three-ball off a feed from Simms. From there, Old Dominion closed out the frame, scoring nine of the final 15 points to take a 52-36 advantage heading into the final period.
Wagner fourth-year head coach
Lisa Cermignano then turned to freshman
Julia McClure (Secaucus, NJ/ Secaucus) to begin the fourth quarter. Seeing her first career action, the 5-8 wing provided an immediate spark, as she recorded her first career basket at the 8:42 mark off a contested layup, in which she drew the foul as well.
McClure was then able to steal the ball and create space in the corner, in front of her team's bench, dialed up a three-pointer that found the back of the net, trimming the ODU lead to 14, 57-43, with 6:57 remaining in the contest.
After ODU pushed its lead to 20 following a pair of Simms free throws, Nwajei, took over, scoring the next 12 points for Wagner, bringing the lead back down to 19, 67-57, with 2:00 minutes left in the contest.
Unfortunately, this would be the closest that Wagner would get as the Monarchs scored the game's final four points in earning their victory of the 2015-16 season.
For the game, Wagner shot 36.1 percent from the floor while connecting on 31.6 percent from the outside. The Seahawks matched ODU's intensity on boards, only grabbing two fewer caroms for the game (42-40). ODU was able to score 20 points off 23 Seahawk turnovers.
Wagner will conclude its three-game, opening season road stretch on Sunday, November 22, when the Green & White head to Columbus, OH to take on Big 10 power Ohio State, which is ranked in the top 10 in both major polls.
Tip-off from the Value City Arena is slated for 2:00 p.m. and the game can be seen live on the BIG 10 network.
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