Women's Basketball | 3/10/19
Fairfield, CT - The seventh-seeded Wagner College women's basketball team (10-19; 8-10) travels to Fairfield, CT to tangle with the two-seed, Sacred Heart University Pioneers (18-11; 14-4), in the Northeast Conference (NEC) quarterfinals on Monday evening. The matchup is set for 6:00 p.m. and will be available on NEC Front Row.
Wagner is 14-19 all-time in the NEC Tournament and 6-12 against the seven other participants of this year's tournament. As a No. 7 seed, Wagner is 1-2 all-time in the tournament. The Green & White's most recent tournament appearance, back in 2014, came as the seventh-seed, as they dropped a 75-66 decision to No. 2 seed, Mount St. Mary's.
Monday's quarterfinal contest between Wagner and Sacred Heart will mark just the second time these two programs have met in the tournament, as the Seahawks defeated the Pioneers, 59-56, back in 2000, when Wagner was the No. 6 seed and the Pioneers were the No. 3 seed.
Inside The Numbers:
- 72.2 - The 2018-19 Seahawks shot 72.2 percent from the free-throw line this season, setting a new program mark for a single season and ranked among the top-100 in the entire NCAA.
- 68.1 - Through the conference slate of games (18), Wagner averaged 68.1 ppg, the third-most in the league and highest total since 2013-14, when the team averaged 67.7 ppg in conference-only games.
- 62.7 - The trio of senior Nakylia Carter and sophomores Alayshia Dailey and Taylah Simmons have combined to account for 62.7% of Wagner's 407 assists this season. Carter dished out a team-leading 100 assists while Dailey notched 92 and Simmons 63.
- 10 - Wagner's 10 overall wins this season are the most since 2010-11 when the Seahawks finished the year 12-17.
Final Northeast Conference Women's Basketball Regular Season Standings
(As of 3/7/19)
| Team |
NEC Record |
PCT |
Overall |
Streak |
| 1. Robert Morris *^ |
16-2 |
.889 |
19-10 |
W1 |
| 2. Sacred Heart * |
14-4 |
.778 |
18-11 |
W5 |
| 3. St. Francis Brooklyn * |
12-6 |
.667 |
18-12 |
W3 |
| 4. Saint Francis U * |
11-7 |
.611 |
14-16 |
L1 |
| 5. Bryant * |
9-9 |
.500 |
11-18 |
W2 |
| 6. Mount St. Mary's * |
8-10 |
.444 |
14-15 |
L2 |
| WAGNER * |
8-10 |
.444 |
10-19 |
L4 |
| 8. Fairleigh Dickinson * |
5-13 |
.278 |
8-21 |
L2 |
| 9. Central Connecticut |
4-14 |
.222 |
7-21 |
L2 |
| 10. LIU Brooklyn |
3-15 |
.167 |
4-25 |
L4 |
Last Time Out For Wagner:
- With Wagner leading 73-68 and just 1:33 to play, Bryant scored the next five points to tie the game at 73 before a Naomi Ashley steal set up the game-winner as the Seahawks dropped a heartbreaking, 76-73, decision to the Bulldogs in the Northeast Conference (NEC) regular season finale on Thursday evening.
- Redshirt sophomore Taylah Simmons and redshirt junior guard Janelle Mullen led the way for the visitors, as both eclipsed the 20-point plateau. For Simmons, she finished with a game-high 25 points, 11 coming in the third quarter. Simmons also pulled down a team-leading, 12 rebounds, for her seventh double-double of the season and ninth of her career. Tonight's outing also marked the seventh time this season that she has scored at least 20 points and the 34th career time she has eclipsed double-figures.
- Mullen, who netted 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the floor, which included four made three-pointers, scored ten of her 20 points in the first quarter. For the Ozone Park, NY native, she reached the 20-point mark for the third time this season and now has back-to-back games of at least 20 points (21 vs. Saint Francis U, 3/4/19). Mullen also gave an all-out defensive effort, swiping a career-high five steals while adding a block in her 39 minutes of action.
- The Bulldogs had three players net in double figures, led by Sydney Holloway's team-high 20 point performance. Masey Zegarowski and Haley Connors each added 14 points on a combined 9-of-18 shooting from the field and 6-of-10 marksmanship from three-point range. Brooke Bjelko corralled ten rebounds.
Inside The Wagner | Sacred Heart Series:
- Monday's contest is the 39th all-time meeting between the schools, with Sacred Heart leading the head-to-head series, 29-9.
- In the NEC Tournament, this is just the second time these programs have met, as Wagner is 1-0 against the Pioneers, earning a 59-56 win in the 2000 NEC Tournament, which started the Seahawk' run to the title game that season.
- Wagner is looking to break an 11-game losing streak to the Pioneers, with the last victory coming back on January 13, 2014, a 79-70 triumph on Staten Island.
Seahawk Tidbits:
- The Seahawks doubled their NEC win total from a season ago, finishing the 2018-19 regular season at 10-19 and 8-10 in league play, returns to the postseason for the first time since 2014.
- Wagner is looking to stop a four-game losing streak. During this stretch, the Seahawks are averaging 63.4 ppg while their opponents are tallying 69.6 ppg and are a +7.4 in the rebounding department.
- The Green & White will look for its first tournament victory since 2002, when the Seahawks were the No. 5 seed and defeated the No. 4 seed, Monmouth, 73-59, before falling to top-seeded, Saint Francis U Red Flash, in the semifinals (74-55).
- The Seahawks were ranked in the top-100 in the nation in three-point field goal percentage and free-throw percentage, as Wagner shot 34.2 percent from the outside and hit on 72.2 percent from the charity stripe, setting a program record in the process. This mark surpassed the previous record of 70.7 percent, set back in 1989-90 and 2000-01.
- The 2018-19 Seahawks had three players finish the regular season averaging double-digits, led by redshirt sophomore Taylah Simmons, who poured in 15.2 ppg (seventh-highest among all-league players) while pulling down 7.0 rpg (sixth-highest in the conference). The second-year Seahawk also was in the top-10 in field goal percentage (47,9%) and free throw percentage (77.8%), ane among the top-15 in steals (1.4 spg) and assists (2.3). The Melbourne, Australia native was the leading scorer among all NEC sophomores this season and finished second to Mount St. Mary's, Rebecca Lee, in rebounding among all-second year players. In league-only contests, Simmons poured in close to 18.0 ppg and nearly 8.0 rpg, while shooting 51.5 percent from the field (sixth-highest shooting percentage).
- Freshman Emilija Krista Grava was the team's second-leading scorer, netting 10.5 ppg and pulling down 5.6 rpg in 20 games this season. Her 10.5 ppg was the third-highest scoring production among NEC freshmen (Brandy Thomas/LIU/13.9ppg; Michaela Harrison/MSM/12.9 ppg).
- Redshirt junior Janelle Mullen was the third Seahawk to average double-figures for the regular season, pouring in 10.1 ppg in 20 games while logging a shade under 27.0 minutes a contest. The Ozone Park, NY native has scored 13.7 ppg over her last ten games while pulling down 3.0 rpg and dishing out 2.1 apg, in addition to shooting 49.0 percent from the field and 44.6 percent from three-point range.
Scouting The Sacred Heart University Pioneers:
- Sacred Heart, who has qualified for the NEC Tournament in every season since becoming a league member in 1998, enters the tournament as the No. 2 seed and closed out the regular season with five straight wins, closing the regular season at Mount St. Mary's, 53-46, on Thursday evening.
- The Pioneers ranked second in scoring defense, allowing 59.8 ppg and lowered that number in conference-only games to 58.1 ppg.
- SHU ranked second in field-goal percentage defense, holding its opponents to just 39.0 percent shooting from the field and finished the season first in three-point field goal percentage defense, as the opposition converted just 31.2 percent from long distance.
- Four Pioneers finished the season averaging in double figures, led by Katherine Haines, who netted 16.8 ppg (fourth in the league) and pulled down 9.2 rebounds a contest (third in the NEC). Adrianne Hagood netted 11.7 ppg while Candice Leatherwood and Erin Storck rounded out the scoring production for Sacred Heart, averaging 11.2 and 10.8 points per game, respectively.
- Collectively, Sacred Heart shot 39.7 percent from the field while hitting on 34.0 percent from three-point range and converting on 69.5 percent from the free-throw line this season.
2019 Northeast Conference Tournament:
- After experimenting with a Pod hosting format in 2018, the postseason tournament reverts back to its traditional form this March.
- The 2019 NEC Tournament begins with four quarterfinal round matchups on Monday, March 11 followed by a pair of semifinal games on Thursday, March 14.
- The 33rd #NECWBB Championship Game will unfold on Sunday, March 17 and it will reach a live national TV audience for the 12th year running via ESPNU.
- All games will be hosted by the higher seeds and teams will be re-seeded after each round. NEC Front Row will carry the quarterfinal round games while the semifinal matchups will also be available on ESPN3.
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