Fairfield, CT – Freshman guard Corinn Baggs (Staten Island, NY / Staten Island Academy) tossed in a career-high 14 points and junior guard Tanasia Russell (Vineland, NJ / Vineland) scored 10 of her 14 points in the second half as the Wagner women's basketball team took defending Northeast Conference (NEC) regular season champion Sacred Heart to the wire before falling by a 62-52 count in overtime.
 
The Seahawks overcame an eight-point second-half deficit in forging a 46-46 tie after regulation before the Pioneers outscored Wagner 16-4 in the extra session to pull away for the win.
 
In surviving this defensive-minded slugfest, SHU evens its season record at 9-9 and moves to 6-1 in the NEC. While the Seahawks fall to 1-17 on the season, 0-7 in league play, the Seahawks continue play a competitive brand of basketball against top competition. Today's effort comes on the heels of Monday's tough 70-61 loss at Bryant (9-9, 4-3 NEC), a contest that featured 14 ties and a whopping 22 lead changes.
 
Wagner jumped out to an early 10-2 lead this afternoon before SHU came back to score six of the next seven points in cutting the deficit to 11-8 after one quarter before the Pioneers outscored the Seahawks, 15-11, in the second quarter in taking a slim 23-22 halftime lead.
 
SHU then opened the second half on a 13-6 run in opening its biggest lead of the game, at eight, a 36-28 advantage, which came on a layup by NEC Preseason Player of the Year Hannah Kimmel with 1:21 to go in the third quarter.
 
The Seahawks cut the deficit to 36-32 as Baggs beat the third-quarter buzzer with a layup. After SHU pulled ahead, 41-36 on a Katherine Haines jumper, Wagner answered with a 6-0 run in taking its first lead of the second half at 42-41. Baggs sparked the run with a pair of layup to make it 41-40 before Russell knocked down a 15-foot pull-up jumper to put Wagner in front by one with 5:33 left in regulation.
 
After Kimmel went 3-for-3 from the free throw line after being fouled on a deep attempt, to put SHU up 44-42, the Seahawks answered with a layup from senior forward Taylor Butigian (Rockaway Park, NY / Christ the King) to tie it at 44-44, before a Russell jumper gave Wagner a 46-44 edge with just 3:02 remaining in regulation.
 
SHU's Adaysha Williams then shook herself free for a 10-foot jumper to tie it at 46-46 with 52 second left. After Wagner turned the ball over at the 32-second mark on its ensuing possession, SHU held for the final shot but a 15-footer by Williams with three seconds left bounced off the rim as the teams headed to overtime.
 
The Green and White took a 50-48 lead with 3:13 left in the extra session on a Russell jumper but SHU countered with a decisive 12-0 run down the stretch in pulling away for the win.
 
Kimmel lead all scorers with 19 while Wiliams and Kelcey Castro added 14 and 10 points, respectively, for the Pioneers.
 
Baggs and Russell finished with identical stat lines from the floor, as each shot 7-of-12 for the game in fashioning their respective 14-point efforts. For Baggs, her seven made field goals and 14 attempts are both career highs while Russell's seven makes ties a career high.
 
Freshman forward Kerstie Phills (Charlotte, NC / Charlotte Christian), who has won four consecutive NEC Rookie of the Week Awards, hit for 10 points to finish in double figures for the eighth straight game and 11^th of her last 12. Sophomore guard Julia McClure (Secaucus, NJ / Secaucus) added six points, senior forward Jackie Dluhi (Middletown, NJ / Middletown South) chipped in with four, while Butigian and freshman guard Kellie Crouch (North Brunswick, NJ / St. John Vianney) wound up with two points apiece.
 
Wagner outshot Sacred Heart 44.0 percent to 33.9 percent and won the rebounding battle, 39-33, but in the end were undone by committing 23 turnovers, while the Pioneers turned it over just 11 times. The Seahawks held a 24-16 lead in points in the paint and an 18-4 edge in bench scoring, with 14 of those coming from Russell who played 36 minutes despite not starting the game.
 
Sacred Heart held the edge in points off turnovers (16-11), second-chance points (12-10) and fast-break points (6-4). There were five ties in the game and nine lead changes.
 
The Seahawks are right back at it on Monday, January 23 when they make the short trip to LIU Brooklyn for a 7:00 p.m. matchup with the Blackbirds.
 
NOTE: Today's game began with a technical foul  assessed against Sacred Heart as Crouch hit both of the free throws to give Wagner a 2-0 lead before the opening tip.
 
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