Staten Island, NY – The Wagner women's basketball team received career-high scoring games from three different players and totaled a season-high 22 points in the fourth quarter, but it was not enough to offset the 20-point, 14-rebound outing by Albany's Jessica Fequiere as the America East preseason favorites came away with a 75-50 win this afternoon.
 
Sophomore guard Julia McClure (Secaucus, NJ / Secaucus) tossed in a career-high 16 points to lead the Seahawks, while freshmen guards Kellie Crouch (North Brunswick, NJ / St. John Vianney) and Kerstie Phills (Charlotte, NC / Charlotte Christian) added a career-high 12 points apiece.
 
Albany, which claimed the 2016 America East tile and knocked off Florida in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to eventual Final Four team Syracuse in round two, jumped out to a 24-9 lead after the first quarter and took a 42-15 lead at halftime. The Seahawks' best stretch of basketball came during the fourth quarter, when they went on a 13-0 run over a span of 3:24 to trim the deficit to 61-40 with 6:23 remaining in the game. The Seahawk run was keyed by hot outside shooting as McClure knocked down a pair of three-pointers during the stretch while Phills hit another.
 
Wagner outscored Albany 22-15 in the final stanza in recording their highest scoring quarter of the season, breaking their former high output of 20.
 
Fequiere's game-high 20-point outing was one of four double-digit scoring games recorded today by the Great Danes, as Bailey Hixson finished with 16, while Bose Aiyalogbe and Heather Foster added 13 and 11 points, respectively.
 
Albany held a 34-18 edge in points in the paint, a 24-10 advantage in points off turnovers and a 15-2 lead in bench scoring while the teams were tied 9-9 in second-chance points. The Great Danes held a 43.8%-36.0% edge in shooting while winning the battle of the boards by a count of 40-32.
 
In addition to the career-high outings supplied by McClure Crouch and Phills, junior guard Tanasia Russell (Vineland, NJ / Vineland) added eight points, two assists and one steal for the Seahawks.
 
Wagner is now 2-4 all-time vs. Albany and 16-25 all-time vs. teams that are current members of the America East Conference.
 
With today's loss, the Seahawks fall to 1-8 on the season while the Great Danes even their season mark at 5-5.
 
With final exams in full swing, the Green & White are next in action on Saturday, December 17 when they make the short trek to St. John's of the Big East Conference in a 2:00 p.m. contest that will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
 
NOTES – Through nine games, Russell is the Seahawks' leading scorer at 11.8 points per game, followed by Crouch and McClure, who check in at 9.0 and 8.6 points, respectively. Crouch is hitting a team-high 36.5% from three-point range (19-of-52) while McClure is averaging 15.0 ppg. in her last two games, having scored a team-high 14 at Army on Tuesday night.