Staten Island, NY – The Wagner women's basketball team built a 17-point first half lead, saw the College of Staten Island storm back to gain a second-half lead of its own, before surviving by a 62-60 count to give head coach Heather Jacobs her first Seahawk victory tonight at the Spiro Sports Center.
 
The Green & White, who opened the season with a 68-45 loss at NJIT on Saturday, even their season mark at 1-1 while the Dolphins, who were playing their first game of the season, are 0-1.
 
Wagner closed the first quarter on an 11-0 run in building an 18-8 lead heading into quarter number two. Keyed by three-point jumpers from a trio of new comers, one each by freshmen guards Sydney Sabino and Kellie Crouch, and another by junior transfer Africa Williams, the Seahawks opened the second quarter on a 13-6 run in building their biggest lead of the game, at 31-14, with 3:36 to go in the half.
 
The Seahawks took a 36-22 lead in the locker room at intermission before the Dolphins outscored the Seahawks 20-5 in the third quarter, triggered by a 15-0 run, to trim the deficit to one, at 41-40, after the third quarter.
 
CSI, a Division III program whose campus is located just four miles from Wagner,  opened the final stanza with an 8-2 burst, keyed by a pair of three-pointers from Anglelique Price, to take it biggest lead of the game, at 48-42, with 7:16 left. At this point, it was anyone's ball game as the teams traded baskets the rest of the way. During a closing stretch that featured five lead changes and two ties, Wagner was able to wrest the lead for good when junior guard Tanasia Russell (Vineland, NJ / Vineland) sank two free throws with 34 seconds left to give the lead for good at 60-59.
 
After CSI committed a turnover underneath its own basket with 26 seconds left, the Dolphins were forced to foul Julia McClure (Secaucus, NJ / Secaucus) in the open floor with 11 seconds to go and the sophomore calmly knocked down two free throws to make it a 62-59. The Dolphins' Jacquelyn Cali made 1-of-2 from the line with 0.7 seconds left to as the Seahawks held on by that 62-60 count.
 
"I think we can learn a lot from this game," said Jacobs. "And it's nice to be able to learn when you get the win at the end of the day.
 
Asked about Russell's performance down the stretch, Jacabs responded, "I think she's a terrific athlete who has really bought into trying to make the extra pass to set up her teammates for success and that allowed her to open up some opportunities to score and she did a great job. She was composed and I think her ability to finish was huge for us."
 
In the final quarter, Wagner made 7-of-11 (63.6%) from the field, to finish at 37.9% (22-of-58) for the game while the Seahawk defenses hounded CSI into a 28.2% shooting night (21-of-70). CSI won the battle of the boards, 52-44 and committed just 10 turnovers while the Seahawks turned the ball over 17 times.
 
The Green & White were whistled for 29 fouls on the night, while CSI committed just 19 fouls, which translated into 28 free throw attempts as opposed to Wagner's 14. The Dolphins, however, were unable to take full advantage, making just 15 of those 28 free throw attempts, which computes to 53.6%.
 
The Seahawks placed four players in double figures, led by Williams' 14 off the bench, which came on 6-of-10 shooting. All eight shots taken by Sabino were from beyond the arc, and she knocked down four of them, to go with a free throw in carving out a 13-point evening. Russell wound up with 11 points on 4-of-9 accuracy, while adding four rebounds and three assists in a productive 18-minute outing. McClure was the fourth Seahawk in double, tallying 10 points to go with a career-high 10 rebounds, in registering her first career double-double.
 
CSI was paced in scoring by forward Samantha Flecker who led all scorers with 18 points, while Price and Christina Pasaturo contributed 15 and 12 points, respectively.
 
Wagner is right back at it on Thursday when the Seahawks host the Towson University Tigers of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) in a 7:00 p.m. tip at the Spiro Center. 

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