Pictured Above: Senior guard
Nakylia Carter
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Fairfield, CT – Surpassing the preseason coaches' poll predictions and doubling its Northeast Conference (NEC) victories from a season ago, the No. 7 seed, Wagner College Seahawks, fell to the No. 2 seed, Sacred Heart University Pioneers, 68-51, at the William H. Pitt Center in the quarterfinal round of the 2019 NEC Tournament on Monday evening.
The Seahawks finish the season with at 10-20 overall record. The team concluded league play with a 8-10 mark, the most conference victories since 2013-14, when that squad finished also at 8-10 (9-21 overall).
Two Seahawks finished in double figures, led by newly-minted
NEC Most Improved Player of the Year and All-NEC Second Teamer,
Taylah Simmons, who paced the Wagner offense with her eighth double- double of the season, netting a team-leading 18 points and 12 rebounds. Simmons shot 9-of-15 from the floor, with ten of her 18 points coming in the third quarter.
Senior point guard
Nakylia Carter concluded a stellar two-year Seahawk career, scoring 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting while pulling down six rebounds in 33 minutes of action. For Carter, she finished with 310 career points in 59 games, 57 of which she started. The Oklahoma City, OK native also dished out 183 assists, corralled 210 rebounds while swiping 95 steals during her tenure on Grymes Hill.
Redshirt junior guard
Janelle Mullen added nine points while sophomore guard
Alayshia Dailey scored seven points and grabbed six rebounds in 27 minutes of play.
All-NEC Rookie team selection, Emilija Krista Grava, was held to just four points and two rebounds in 32 minutes of play.
Sacred Heart, who advances to play the second-lowest seed remaining in the tournament, had three players net in double figures, led by a 21-point outing from NEC First Teamer, Katherine Haines, who led all scorers with 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field.
Candice Leatherwood, who garnered All-NEC Second Team honors, poured in 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field to go along with a team-high six rebounds in 35 minutes of action. Allyson Murphy rounded out the SHU scoring with ten points.
Sacred Heart got out to an early 4-0 advantage before Simmons converted on the first field goal for the visitors. A pair of free throws by Davis upped the Pios lead to 6-2 before the Seahawks responded on a mini 5-0 burst, in taking a 7-6 lead. SHU closed out the first quarter on a 10-3 run in claiming a 16-10 lead after one quarter of play.
Both teams struggled in the second quarter before the No. 2 seed Pioneers were able to increase its lead to 21-10 at the 4:42 mark, thanks to a Davis three-pointer. Simmons answered with a jumper before SHU concluded the period on a 13-0 run in claiming a 34-12 halftime lead.
For the half, the visitors were held to under 25.0 percent shooting from the floor and just 1-of-8 shooting from the outside despite holding a 19-15 edge on the boards. Sacred Heart, who converted at a 44.4 percent clip in the opening half, forced 16 first-half Seahawk turnovers, which turned into 17 of its 34 points with 18 of those coming from inside-the-paint.
The Pioneers took their largest lead of the contest at the 9:08 mark of the third quarter as Haines was able to hit on the contested shot in the paint, leading Sacred Heart to outscore Wagner, 28-24, in the stanza.
In all, Wagner outscored Sacred Heart 39-34 in the second half, while shooting 62.5 percent from the field and making 8-of-9 from the free throw in the second half but it wasn't enough to overcome the deficit.
For the game, the Seahawks shot 42.6 percent from the field and was held to just two made three-pointers (2-of-14) while the Pioneers finished the game shooting 49.1 percent from the floor and 53.0 percent from long range. The Seahawks outmuscled the Pioneers on the boards, 36-24, highlighted by a 22-14 edge on the defensive glass while SHU scored 40 of its 68 points from inside-the-paint.
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Wagner Athletics
Women's Basketball:
Head Coach
Heather Jacobs:
