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Hackensack, NJ – The nation's No. 1 scorer, junior guard Jasmine Nwajei (Rockaway Park, NY/Murry Bergtraum), tallied 33 points in becoming the first junior in Northeast Conference (NEC) history to reach the 2,000-point career mark, and grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds, while sophomore forward Sofia Roma (Richmond Hill, NY/Nazareth Regional) added a double-double of her own with 12 points and 11 rebounds, but the Wagner women's basketball team wound up on the short end of a 75-67 decision at Fairleigh Dickinson.
 
The injury-riddled Seahawks, who played just seven players in the game, were looking for their second straight win following Saturday's 64-63 triumph at Central Connecticut, fall to 3-13 in the NEC and 5-22 overall with two games remaining. With the win, victory, the Knights even their conference record while improving to 11-18 overall.
 
Nwajei, who entered the game 18 points shy of 2,000, hit for 17 first-half points as FDU held a slim 28-26 lead at the intermission.  A breakaway layup by Nwajei with 6:54 left in the third quarter off a throw-ahead pass by senior guard Jazmine Hamlet (New York, NY/Francis Lewis) gave the 5-8 guard her 2,000^th career point while putting Wagner on top, 32-31.
 
The milestone bucket was part of a 15-6 run, which by a Hamlet layup, that gave the Seahawks their biggest lead of the game, a seven-point 41-34 advantage with 4:34 left in the quarter which led to an FDU timeout. Wagner took a 47-43 lead into the fourth quarter before the Knights opened the final stanza on a 10-0 run, capped by a Kelsey Cruz layup that gave the Knights a 53-47 lead with 6:09 left.
 
After Roma ended the run with a layup to make it 53-49, the Knights answered with an 8-2 burst, capped by a Brianna Thomas layup at the 3:34 mark and FDU hung on from there.
 
After pouring in 40 points on Saturday at Central Connecticut, including the game-winning layup with 1.7 seconds to play, was 10-of-24 from the floor tonight and 12-of-18 form the free throw line, while adding the career-high 13 boards, five assists and four steals.
 
For the 6-2 Roma, tonight's 12-point, 11-rebound effort was her team-leading fifth double-double of the season. Senior guard Tessa Wade (Penn Valley, PA/Lower Merion) and sophomore guard Tanasia Russell (Vineland, NJ/Vineland), added six points apiece for the Seahawks.
 
Cruz, a slick backcourt standout, paced FDU with 24 points, center Erika Livermore also recorded a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds while Thomas finished with 11.
 
The Knights held a 43.8 percent to 35.4 percent shooting advantage while owning a slim 46-43 edge in the rebounding department. With a complement of 11 players at their disposal, the Knights held a decided 32-8 lead in bench scoring and a 40-38 edge in points in the paint. The Seahawks, meanwhile, led in points off turnovers (13-11), second-chance points (12-8) and fast break points (10-2).

The Seahawks are next in action on Saturday, February 27 when they host the Robert Morris University Colonials in a 1:00 p.m. start in the first game of a doubleheader with the Seahawk and Colonials' men's teams set to meet at 4:00 p.m.

Note: Nwajei, who became Wagner's all-time leading scorer during the first meeting between these teams on Grymes Hill back on February 6, is now up to 2,015 career points.

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