Emmitsburg, MD – Junior guard Jasmine Nwajei (Rockaway Park, NY/Murry Bergtraum) scored 22 points and sophomore forward Sofia Roma (Richmond Hill, NY/Nazareth Regional) recorded career highs with 13 points and 22 rebounds, but Mount St. Mary's was able to pull away late for a 64-55 win.
 
With her 22 points, Nwajei remains the No. 2 scorer in the nation at 26.5 ppg., trailing only Kelsey Plum of Washington (27.0). Entering the game, Nwajei needed 33 points to overtake Plum for the NCAA scoring lead. Plum is averaging 27.0 ppg. (540 points in 20 games), while Nwajei has now scored 529 points in 20 games.

With the loss, Wagner falls to 1-8 in the conference and 3-17 overall while the Mount improves to 3-6 and 5-15.
 
A critical moment in tonight's game occurred with 5:44 left in the third quarter when Nwajei headed to the bench with her fourth personal foul and Wagner clinging to a 31-29 lead. With Nwajei, who had scored 19 points to that point, on the sidelines for the rest of the quarter, the Mountaineers took advantage, outscoring the Seahawks 15-5 in taking a 44-36 lead into the fourth.
 
Junior guard Lyndsay Rowe (South River, NJ/St. John Vianney) opened the final quarter by drilling a left-wing three-pointer which ignited an 8-0 Seahawk run. Roma then scored the next four Wagner points on a layup and two free throws. Nwajei then made 1-of-2 from the line to complete the run and pull the Seahawks to within three, 47-44, at the 6:36 mark.
 
The Mountaineers then embarked on a pivotal 8-0 run in building the lead back to 11, at 55-44 with 4:36 left to play and the Mount held on from there. Prior to this key spurt by the Mount, this was a back-and-forth affair with four ties and seven lead changes.
 
For Roma, her 13-point, 22-rebound effort was fourth double-double of the season and she now has five double-digit rebounding games on the season with the 22-rebound affair topping her previous career high of 20 which she corralled vs. Central Connecticut on January 16. In a career-long 38 minutes of playing time, Roma was 4-of-9 shooting while adding a game-high three blocked shots. Rowe joined Nwajei and Roma in double digits, finishing with 11 points, headlined by a 3-of-4 effort from three-point range.
 
Alexis Carter recorded a double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds while Katrice Dickson and Jessica Harris added 15 and 13 points, respectively.

For the game, the Mount outshot Wagner 33.3 percent to 27 percent, while the Seahawks, buoyed by Roma's 22 boards, owned a 51-45 edge on the glass. The Mountaineers held a 34-20 edge in points in the paint and led in points off turnovers (22-12) and fast-break points while Wagner held the advantage in second-chance points (21-14) and bench points (17-8).
 
The Green & White are next in action on Monday, February 1 when they make the short trek to meet the St. Francis Brooklyn. Tip-off between the Seahawks and the Terriers at the Pope Physical Education Center is set for 7:00 p.m.
 
NOTES – With 1,764 career points, Nwajei is second on the Seahawk all-time scoring list and is now within 71 points of surpassing Hall of Famer Stephanie Samuels (1,835 points – 1982-86) as Wagner's all-time leading scorer. In addition to boasting an overall scoring average of 26.5 ppg., Nwajei is averaging a blistering 32.6 ppg. in conference play.
 
Roma is the leading rebounder in the NEC in both conference games only (14.2 rpg.) and overall (10.9 rpg.). In addition, she now owns the top four rebounding games by an NEC player this season:
22 vs. Mount St. Mary's (1/30)
20 vs. Central Conn. (1/16)
18 vs. Lafayette (12/9)
17 vs. Bryant (1/9)

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