Brooklyn, NY – Making a bid for her fifth consecutive Northeast Conference (NEC) Rookie of the Week award, Kerstie Phills (Charlotte, NC / Charlotte Christian) poured in a career-high 24 points and classmate Corinn Baggs (Staten Island, NY / Staten Island Academy) added 13 but LIU Brooklyn was able to hang on for a 69-64 win tonight at Steinberg Wellness Center.
 
After battling Sacred Heart to the wire in a tough overtime loss on Saturday, the Seahawks fell behind 37-26 at the half tonight. After junior guard Tanasia Russell (Vineland, NJ / Vineland) converted an old-fashioned three-point play, sinking an acrobatic jumper in traffic to make it a 27-25 game at the 2:24 mark, the Blackbirds closed the half on a 10-1 run in building their 11-point halftime bulge.
 
Wagner, however, opened the second half on an 8-0 run and went on take the lead by outscoring the Blackbirds 17-4 in the third quarter. The Seahawks entered the fourth quarter on top, 43-41, and took their last lead at 52-51 on a Phills jumper with 4:42 remaining in the game. But the Green & White went cold from the free throw line down the stretch in falling to 1-18 on the season, 0-8 in NEC play. With the win, the Blackbirds improve to 3-16 on the season and are now 2-6 in league play.
 
After taking that 52-51 lead, Wagner was outscored 18-12 as the Seahawks went just 1-of-6 from the charity stripe in the game's final 2:11.
 
Phills, who leads all NEC freshmen in both overall scoring (11.2 ppg.) and in NEC games (15.4 ppg.), notched her 24 points on an 11-of-16 shooting night from the field. Baggs' 13-point effort, meanwhile,  was one shy of the career-high 14 she tallied at Sacred Heart on Saturday as the local product finished the week with a 13.5 ppg. average. Baggs also came up with a career-high six steals to go with three rebounds and two assists in 39 minutes of action. Senior forward Taylor Butigian (Rockaway Park, NY / Christ the King) also made her presence felt in a big way, tossing in a season-high nine points on 3-of-4 shooting, an effort which came on the heels of a career-high 12-rebound performance at Sacred Heart.
 
Russell contributed eight points on the evening, freshman guard Kellie Crouch (North Brunswick, NJ / St. John Vianney) added five, while sophomore guard Julia McClure (Secaucus, NJ / Secaucus) and senior forward Jackie Dluhi (Middletown, NJ / Middletown South) also found the scoring column, chipping in with three and two points, respectively.
 
Guard Dionne Coe paced the Blackbirds with 19 points, 6-2 freshman center Aja Boyd was tough to handle inside, finishing with 18 points and eight rebounds, both team highs, while guard Shanovia Dove added 17.
 
The 64 points scored by the Seahawks tonight were a season high as were their 17 assists, 12 steals and 50 percent shooting accuracy (26-of-52). From the free throw line, however, the Green & White went just 8-of-18, a 44.4 percent effort, which was their second-lowest percentage of the season.
 
LIU shot 44.4 percent (24-of-54) for the game and held a 34-28 edge in rebounds, in addition to holding the advantage in points off turnovers (20), fast-break points (4-2) and bench scoring 25-10. Wagner led 32-22 in points in the paint and by a 10-4 count in second-chance points.
 
After their mini two-game road trip, the Seahawks return to the friendly confines of the Spiro Sports Center on Saturday, January 28 when they host Saint Francis U in a 2:00 p.m. tip.  The Wagner-SFU can be seen live online via ESPN3. This will be the first game of a doubleheader as the Seahawk men will square off against Saint Francis Brooklyn at 4:00 p.m.
 
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