Picture Above:
Junior Guard Tanasia Russell (photo by Dave Saffran)
Loretto, PA – Junior guard
Tanasia Russell (Vineland, NJ / Vineland) tossed in a career-high 22 points, freshman guard
Corinn Baggs (Staten Island, NY / Staten Island Academy) scored a career-high 20 points, while freshman forward
Kerstie Phills (Charlotte, NC / Charlotte Christian) also hit for 20, to go with a career-high 16 rebounds, as the Wagner women's basketball team earned an impressive 87-71 win at SFU.
In defeating a Red Flash team that entered the game in a three-way tie with Robert Morris and Sacred Heart atop the Northeast Conference (NEC) standings at 10-3, the Seahawks improve to 3-11 in league play and 4-21 overall. With the loss, SFU falls to 10-4 in the NEC and 13-12 overall.
Wagner set season highs tonight in points scored (87), rebounds (47), free throw attempts (31) and free throws made (42) while registering their second-highest season marks in field goal percentage (.531), field goals made (26) and steals (11). The victory gives the Seahawks their first road win over Saint Francis U since January 4, 2010 when they earned a 76-74 overtime win in Loretto.
Tonight's win was a near wire-to-wire effort as a three-pointer by SFU's Katie Reese 36 seconds into the game, which followed a game-opening layup by Phills, gave the Red Flash their only lead of the game.
The Green & White outscored SFU 21-9 in the second quarter in galloping out to a 45-30 halftime lead which marked Wagner's highest scoring half and largest positive halftime margin of the season.
Baggs paced Wagner in the opening half with 13 of her 20 points coming before the intermission while Russell and Phills added 11 points apiece in the opening 20 minutes. Not only did Phills register her fourth double-double of the season, the six-time NEC Rookie of the Week nearly achieved the feat in the first half alone as she pulled down eight rebounds in the opening stanza.
SFU knocked down two straight three-point jumpers to open the second half to cut the Wagner lead to nine at 45-36. After first-year head coach
Heather Jacobs called a timeout with 9:05 left in the third quarter to settle her troops down, the Seahawks went right back to work.
A Baggs layup at the 8:20 mark triggered a 13-2 run, which wqs highlighted by consecutive three-pointers from freshman guard
Kellie Crouch (North Brunswick, NJ / St. John Vianney) and senior forward
Taylor Butigian (Rockaway Park, NY / Christ the King), which carried the Green & White to a 20-point bulge at 58-38 with four minutes left in the quarter.
With Wagner in foul trouble, the Red Flash were able to whittle the Seahawk lead to single digits at 79-70 with 1:56 left on a free throw by Ace Harrison. But the Seahawks answered calmly knocked down eight of their final 10 free throws to win going away.
In reaching the 20-point scoring plateau for the fourth time this season, Phills, whose career high is 24 at LIU Brooklyn (1/23), has now scored in double digits in 15 straight games, including all 14 NEC contests, and 18 of her last 19 overall. The 5-9 Phills is now up to 16.2 ppg. in NEC play, which ranks fourth in the league, while averaging 12.9 ppg. overall.
Crouch was the fourth Seahawk to hit for double figures tonight, finishing with 15 points, two shy of her career high. Included in her 15-point outing was a clutch 9-of-10 effort from the free throw line as all of those were taken in the fourth quarter as Wagner worked to maintain its lead.
The Green & White are next in action on Saturday, February 18 when they travel to St. Francis Brooklyn for a 1:00 p.m. contest vs. the Terriers, a team
Wagner defeated at home by a 58-43 count back on January 30 at the Spiro Sports Center.
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