Pictured Above: Freshman guard Corinn Baggs is averaging 5.3 rebounds per game (Photo by Dave Saffran)
Staten Island, NY - The Wagner women's basketball team will host defending Northeast Conference (NEC) champion Robert Morris on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in the first game of a doubleheader with the Seahawk and RMU men's team set to clash in a 4:00 p.m. tip at the Spiro Sports Center.
Wagner All-Time vs. Robert Morris
Saturday's matchup marks the 59th all-time meeting between the schools and the Seahawks leads the series, 30-28.
About the Seahawks
Wagner (1-14, 0-4 NEC) is under the direction of first-year head coach
Heather Jacobs, who arrived on Grymes Hill in April after building championship programs at Division III Daniel Webster College, and most recently, Division II Adelphi College. The Seahawks have been led of late by freshman forward
Kerstie Phills (Charlotte, NC / Charlotte), who has won three consecutive NEC Rookie of the Week awards. The 5-9 Phills is second on the team in both scoring (9.9) and rebounding (5.7). In NEC play, Phills averages a team-best 14.8 ppg. and is second in boards at 8.0 rpg. Overall, Wagner is led in scoring by 5-8 junior guard
Tanasia Russell (Vineland, NJ / Vineland) who averages 11.0 points per game and in rebounding by 5-8 sophomore guard
Julia McClure (Secaucus, NJ / Secaucus), who averages 6.5 caroms per game. Freshman guard
Kellie Crouch (North Brunswick, NJ / St. John Vianney), whose halftime buzzer-beating three-pointer last time out vs. Sacred Heart was named the
NEC Play of the Week, checks in at 8.3 ppg. In Monday's game vs. SHU, Crouch tossed in a career-high 14 points. McClure checks in at 7.5 ppg., while freshman guard
Corinn Baggs (Staten Island, NY / Staten Island Academy) averages 4.1 ppg., and 5.3 rpg. Up front, 6 -1 senior forward Taylor Butigian (Rockaway Park, NY / Christ the King) averages 3.1 ppg. and 5.1 rpg., which is third-best on the team, while senior forward
Jackie Dluhi (Middletown, NJ / Middletown South) is fourth on the team in rebounding (4.5 rpg.).
About the Colonials
Led by first-year head coach, Charlie Buscaglia, whose father, Sal, served as RMU head coach for the previous 13 seasons, the Colonials are 7-8 overall on the season and 2-2 in NEC play. On the floor, senior guard Anna Niki Stamolamprou was named NEC Player of the Week after tying RMU single-game records in points scored and field goals made, tallying 39 and 15, respectively. She shattered her previous career-high of 28 points by shooting 15-of-22 from the field and 6-of-10 on three-point attempts. Averaging 26.0 points over Robert Morris' most recent NEC two-game set, Stamolamprou also added 16 rebounds, three assists, and three steals. She ranks third in the league in scoring (15.7 PPG) and three-point field goals made (2.29), sixth in defensive rebounds (5.14), eighth in assists (2.71) and steals (1.57), and 10th in field goal percentage (.410) and three-point percentage (.340). Megan Smith, a 6-1 junior forward, is next in scoring at 11.9 ppg., while leading the team with 6.9 rpg., while redshirt senior guard Rebecca Navarro checks in at 8.8 ppg.
Phills Earns Third Straight NEC Rookie of Week Honor
Somerset, NJ – Wagner freshman
Kerstie Phills (Charlotte, NC / Charlotte Christian) maintained her grip on the NEC Rookie of the Week award, picking up this honor for the third consecutive week, after scoring in double figures in the Seahawks' two most recent games. The 5-foot-9 forward averaged 13.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per contest as Wagner hosted a pair of conference rivals. Phills victimized Goethals Bridge rival Fairleigh Dickinson to the tune of a game-high 17 points, five rebounds and two assists on January She logged a team-high 34 minutes in the hard-fought 59-53 setback. Two days later, Phills accounted for 10 points and six rebounds against NEC preseason favorite Sacred Heart. The rookie was effective early, scoring eight points as the Seahawks built a 30-21 lead prior to SHU's furious comeback. Phills has produced double-digit scoring totals in nine of her last 10 games, including five straight. In NEC play, her 14.8 points per average leads the team and is tops among all NEC freshmen. She is also pulling down a team-best 8.0 rebounds per game in league play. Phills is the first Seahawk to garner three consecutive NEC Rookie of the Week awards since
Jasmine Nwajei picked up three straight in 2013-14.
Wagner Last Time Out
Playing its best basketball of the season, the Wagner women's basketball team took a 28-21 halftime lead over Sacred Heart and led by nine points midway through the third quarter before the defending Northeast Conference (NEC) regular season champions rallied for a 70-56 victory on Monday tonight at the Spiro Sports Center. Freshman guard
Kellie Crouch (North Brunswick, NJ / St. John Vianney), who capped the first half with a buzzer-beating three-pointer, led the valiant Seahawk effort by tossing in a career-high 14 points, spearheaded by a 4-of-8 shooting night from beyond the arc and 5-of-10 shooting overall. Sophomore guard
Julia McClure (Secaucus, NJ / Secaucus) delivered her third career double-double, a gritty 13-point, 10-rebound effort, while two-time NEC Rookie of the Week
Kerstie Phills (Charlotte, NC / Charlotte Christian) finished with 10 points and five rebounds.For Phills, it marks her fifth consecutive double-digit game and ninth in her last ten outings.
