Photos by Dave Saffran

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Staten Island, NY – Junior guard Jasmine Nwajei (Rockaway Park, NY/Murry Bergtraum), the nation's No. 2-leading scorer who was coming off a Northeast Conference (NEC) and school-record 53-point outing on Sunday, followed with 31 points to lead four players in double figures as the Wagner women's basketball team ran past St. Francis Brooklyn 70-53.
 
In addition to her 31 points, Nwajei added eight rebounds and a game-high seven assists. Following tonight's performance, Nwajei remains the nation's No. 2 scorer at 26.7 ppg., but did close the gap on NCAA leader, Kelsey Plum of Washington, who is at 27.2 ppg. Nwajei's 31-point outing actually hurt her NEC-leading scoring average as she is now at 33.9 ppg. in league play.

Junior forward Jackie Dluhi (Middletown, NJ/Middletown) tossed in 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting, junior guard Lyndsay Rowe (South River, NJ/St. John Vianney) added 11 points while sophomore forward Sofia Roma (Richmond Hill, NY/Nazareth Regional) recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Leah Fechko was the lone Terrier to hit for double digits as she finished with 16, to go with a game-high 15 rebounds in notching a double-double, while Kat Phipps added nine.
 
The win snaps an 11-game losing streak for the injury-riddled Seahawks, who notch their first league win of the season to improve to 3-16 overall, 1-7 in the NEC. With the loss, the defending NEC-champion Terriers, who were coming off of a 20-point road win over LIU Brooklyn, are also 1-7 in the conference and 4-15 overall.
 
Nwajei had a tough shooting night through three quarters as the Seahawks entered the fourth with a 49-43 lead. The 5-8 New York City guard got hot late though, connecting on 6-of-8 from the field and 3-of-4 from the line in a 15-point fourth-quarter stanza as Wagner outscored their local rivals 21-10 in the final period in pulling away for the win.
 
Senior guard Jazmine Hamlet (New York, NY/Francis Lewis) energized the Green & White all evening, finishing with a career-high 11 rebounds to go with four points on 2-of-2 shooting, while adding one assist and one steal while playing 32 minutes without committing a single turnover.
 
Wagner, which shot a season-best 50 percent in Sunday's tough 77-73 home loss to Sacred Heart, shot its second-best percentage of the season, at 46.6 percent while holding the Terriers to just 29.7 percent shooting, which is the lowest percentage a team has shot vs. the Seahawks this season.
 
In addition, the Green & White committed a season-low five turnovers while dishing out 13 assists.
 
Nwajei scored 11 of her 31 points in the first half as the Seahawks took a 31-30 lead into the break. Rowe added six points while Roma added four points and seven rebounds in the opening half.
 
Wagner led 25-15 before the Terriers closed the half on a 15-6 run to make it a one-point game at intermission. Fechko amassed her double-double in the first half alone, scoring 11 points while grabbing 10 rebounds.  
 
The Seahawks will look to make it two in a row when they travel to Mount St. Mary's to meet the Mountaineers on Saturday, January 30 in a 6:00 p.m. tip.
 
Follow Wagner Athletics on Facebook (facebook.com/WagnerAthletics), Twitter (@wagnerathletics), Instagram (@wagnerathletics) and YouTube (@WagnerSeahawks) for all the latest news and updates on the athletic department. Follow the women's basketball team on Twitter @WagSwagg_WBB for news and updates on the women's basketball program and @CERMIGNANO for news on the fourth-year coach.