Pictured Above: Redshirt freshman Taylah Simmons (photo by Dave Saffran)
Loretto, PA – With the tall task of concluding the season on the homecourt of the two teams tied for first place in the Northeast Conference (NEC) standings, the Wagner women's basketball team battled Robert Morris to the wire before falling 49-46 on Friday and will now face Saint Francis U Sunday in the season finale at 2:00 p.m.
More Competitive Than Record Suggests
While Wagner will enter today's season finale at SFU (20-9, 15-2 NEC) with a 6-22 overall record and a 4-13 mark in the NEC, a closer look at the Seahawks' league play reveals that of those 13 defeats, eight have come by single digits, with six coming by scores of five points or less. Included in those close defeats was a 79-76 loss to the Red Flash in the first meeting of the season between these teams at the Spiro Sports Center back on January 22, when graduate student
Sierra Clark's 30-point, 17-rebound effort nearly carried the Green & White to victory.
All-Time Series
Today's game marks the 68th all-time meeting between the schools and SFU holds a 45-22 lead in the all-time series.
First Meeting
January 22, 2018
Spiro Sports Center / Staten Island, NY
*Fifth-year senior forward
Sierra Clark poured in 30 points and grabbed 17 rebounds and the Wagner women's basketball team furiously rallied back from an 18-point third-quarter deficit before Saint Francis U was able to hang on for a 79-76 win.
*This matchup featured a scoring battle between two of the NEC's top players as SFU junior guard Jessica Kovatch hit for a game-high 32 points as she went 9-of-19 from the floor, which exactly matched Clark's shooting night.
*For Clark, a 5-11 forward
Sierra Clark from Hughesville, MD, tonight's performance came on the heels of Saturday's 14-point, 18-rebound, nine-block effort vs. Robert Morris.
*SFU led 35-28 and, after outscoring Wagner 26-17 in the third quarter, took a seemingly comfortable 61-45 lead heading into the final frame. The Seahawks opened the fourth quarter with a pair of layups from redshirt freshman guard
Taylah Simmons, four of her career-high 19 points, which triggered a 13-6 run that sliced the Red Flash lead to 67-62 with 6:01 left.
*With the Green & White trailing 69-62 with 5:28 left, Clark nearly took over the game, ripping off seven of Wagner's nine points in a 9-2 Seahawks burst over the next 2:22, with her layup at the 3:06 drawing the game even at 71-71.
*On SFU's next possession, Ace Harrison sank a driving layup from the right side to give the Red Flash a 73-71 lead. A pair of free throws by Kovatch then made it a 75-71 game with 2:15 left before the Seahawks answered with a Clark layup, followed by a pair of free throws by junior guard
Nakylia Carter to forge the game's final tie at 75-75.
*With SFU on top 79-76, Wagner had one last chance to tie by an off-balance three-point attempt by redshirt freshman guard
Morgan Lenahan with six seconds left was off the mark and the Red Flash were able to hold on for the win.
*How dominant was Clark down the stretch of this game? Consider that she nearly recorded a double-double in just the fourth quarter, hitting for 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting over the game's final 10 minutes, as Wagner outscored SFU 31-18 in the final period.
*Both teams placed three players in double figures as Seahawk freshman guard
Khaleah Dixon-Edwards joined Clark and Simmons in double digits with 10 points, two shy of her career high. For SFU, in addition to Kovatch, Kyasia Duling and Courtney Zezza added 13 points each.
Last Time Out:
March 2, 2018
North Atlantic Complex / Moon Township, PA
Wagner battled first-place Robert Morris to the wire before dropping a hard-fought 49-46 decision, despite 23 points and 13 rebounds from fifth-year senior forward
Sierra Clark on Friday night. After Wagner took a 20-16 halftime lead in this defensive-minded affair, the Colonials opened the second half on an 8-0 run in going on top by a count of 24-20. RMU opened its biggest lead of the second half, at 36-30, with 1:45 left on an old-fashioned three-point play by Nineka Ezeigbo. After redshirt freshman guard
Joellen How hit a layup for two of her career-high 10 points with 1:29 left in the third quarter, RMU matched its six-point lead at 38-32 on an Ezeigbo layup. Wagner then answered with a three-pointer by freshman guard
Khaleah Dixon-Edwards with 12 seconds left in the quarter to make it a 38-35 game heading to the fourth. The fourth quarter was similar to the first three, a nip-and-tuck, half-court affair. A layup by RMU's Megan Smith gave the Colonials the lead at 44-42 with 3:50 to play. With Wagner trailing 44-43, the Seahawks took their final lead of the game, at 45-44, on a 10-foot baseline jumper by Clark at the 1:47 mark. After Ezeigbo hit a layup in traffic with 45 seconds left to put RMU back into the lead at 46-45, Wagner dribbled the ball up the floor before calling timeout with 39 seconds to go. Following the timeout, however, the Seahawks had trouble inbounding the ball and Clark wound up fouling out on a scramble for a loose ball with 35 seconds left. Megan Callahan hit 3-of-4 from the line over the next 20 seconds to give RMU a 49-46 lead with 19 seconds left. With no timeouts remaining and Clark on the bench with five fouls, the ball was worked into the hands of junior Nakyila Carter whose potential last second, game-tying three-pointer rimmed out as the Colonials held on for the win. Ezeigbo led RMU with 15 points on the night while Callahan and Nina Augustin finished with 11 points apiece.
Clark Named To 2017-18 CoSIDA Academic All-District™ Women's Basketball Team
Graduate student
Sierra Clark of the Wagner women's basketball team has been named to the 2017-18 Academic All-District First Team for District 1, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of A merica (CoSIDA).The CoSIDA Academic All-District Team recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performance on the court and in the classroom. First-team Academic All-District™ honorees advance to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Team ballot, where first-, second- and third-team All-America honorees will be announced in March. Clark earned her undergraduate degree from Adelphi University last spring, where she was named a Second-Team Division II All-American as well a CoSIDA Academic All-American. In her one year here at Wagner, the Hughesville, MD native has continued to excel, both in the classroom and on the court. Majoring in Higher Education Leadership Organization, where she maintains a perfect 4.0 GPA.
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Wagner Athletics
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Heather Jacobs:
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