Staten Island, NY - The Wagner women's basketball team dropped its third consecutive Northeast Conference (NEC) contest in Sunday's 83-63 loss to Sacred Heart at the Spiro Sports Center.
The Seahawks held up well defensively early on before the Pioneers ended the opening quarter on a 13-7 run. Sacred Heart continued to deliver, particularly from deep, adding three more threes to its tally of six in the first half. But the Green & White battled back to close the half on a 10-0 run over the final 2:02 of action.
Trailing 41-19, the Seahawks forced five straight turnovers to end the half, making it a 12-point game at the intermission. The run was capped off by a buzzer-beating lay-in by freshman Kiera Edmonds, which was sparked by a steal from junior Semie Brar.
As a part of the run to end the first half, junior Rakisha Ballinger and freshman Drew Jordon piled on four points apiece. Brar contributed two of the five steals during the stretch.
The Seahawks emerged from the half on a 7-2 run to put even more pressure on the Pioneers. A traditional three-point play from junior Paige Lyons cut the deficit to as little as seven points just over a minute into the half.
But back-to-back threes from the visitors kickstarted a 22-3 run to close the quarter. From there, the Pioneers maintained their lead to make it a wire-to-wire victory.
Ballinger led Wagner in scoring with 14 points.
Wagner fell to 4-13 (1-4) with the loss, while Sacred Heart improved to 10-9 (4-1).
The Seahawks will be back in action on Saturday, January 27, to take on CCSU to conclude their three-game home stretch. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:00 pm.
