Dec. 21, 2007

Box Score

Newark, NJ - Despite overcoming a 14-point second half deficit the Wagner Seahawks were denied by the NJIT Highlanders 55-54 at the Estelle and Zoom Fleischer Athletic Center. The Green & White had the ball with 11.3 seconds remaining but could not get a shot off. Both teams are now 2-7 on the year.

The Highlanders secured the victory when their defense forced a Wagner turnover with eight-tenths of a second remaining. Down a point with the ball, the Seahawks had used a timeout to set up their offense.

Senior Chelsey Bunyer (Shannon, IL / Shannon) scored a game-high 18 points with five rebounds while also going over 1,000 points for her career with her second basket of the game at the 11:10 mark in the first.

The Highlanders looked to have the game in hand after Kehinde Oyelola's three-point play put NJIT up 41-27 with 11:13 to go in the second. Wagner would have none of that ripping off eight straight points on four free throws from freshman Ashley Olsen (Staten Island, NY / Notre Dame Academy) and jumpers from Bunyer and sophomore Naomi Augustin (Valley Stream, NY / Valley Stream Central). After a pair of NJIT free throws pushed the lead back out to eight, the Seahawks erupted for nine points in a row. Bunyer hit a jumper to cut it back to six before Augustin drilled a three pointer, the Seahawks' lone triple of the day. Bunyer then made two free throws before capitalizing on a Highlander turnover with another jumper to Wagner in front 44-43 with 7:31 to go. All told Wagner outscored NJIT by a 17-2 count over 3:42 to get back into the game.

NJIT would not be behind for very long as they scored six-straight points, all on free throws, to go back in front 49-44 with 5:51 remaining in the contest. However as they did all afternoon the resilient Seahawks fought their way back, using a 7-2 run to tie the game up at 51-51 with 3:29 to go. Bunyer hit two more jumpers in the spurt to cap a perfect 5-5 showing from the field in the second stanza.

On the ensuing possession Adrina Johnson stuck a jumper to reclaim the lead for NJIT at 53-51 with 3:07 to go. After a Wagner turnover, Maya Al-Shingieti's put-back lay-up made it 55-51 in favor of the hosts. Olsen cut the lead to 55-53 with two free throws before sophomore Andrea Reed (Pocomoke City, MD / Pocomoke) split a pair of free throws with 48 seconds remaining to slice the lead to one. Senior Ali Ridge (Barrington, IL / Fremd) proceeded came up with her biggest steal of the year to give the Seahawks one last shot to win. The Green & White though were unable to get a shot off and NJIT ran out the clock and escape with the 55-54 win.

Wagner shot 38.3 percent (18-47) from the floor, including 47.8 percent (11-23) in the second stanza. The Seahawks also hit on a blistering 89.5 percent (17-19) from the charity stripe but were just 1-14 from beyond the arc. The defense also put the clamps on the NJIT shooters, limiting them to 34.0 percent shooting (17-50).

Olsen came off the bench for a game-high nine rebounds and Ridge grabbed eight for the Seahawks, who enjoyed a 39-26 rebounding advantage as a team. Most of that advantage came in the second half when Wagner outrebounded NJIT 21-9. Despite owning the boards, the Seahawks were outscored in second-chance points (15-4).

In the first half, after Bunyer hit a jumper on the game's first possession NJIT used a 13-2 spurt to go in front 13-4 with 11:56 to go. The Highlanders would extend their lead out to 28-16 at intermission.

Keri Washington notched a career-best 11 points to lead NJIT while Maya Al-Shingieti had eight points and a team-best six rebounds to lead the Highlanders.

Wagner returns to action on Sunday, Dec. 30 when they host Pitt at 2 pm in the second game of the Wagner Holiday Classic. Pitt and James Madison will square off in the first game on Saturday, Dec. 29 at 2 pm in a rematch of last year's NCAA First Round game won by the Panthers. Wagner and JMU will meet in the third and final game of the Classic on New Year's Eve at 2 pm.

Notes: Bunyer is the 21st Seahawk to hit for the century mark and the first since former teammate Joy Gallagher did so during the 2005-2006 season ... She currently has 1,014 points and is averaging a team-best 12.0 ppg ... Augustin's season-high seven points helped to spark the bench, which scored 18 points in the second half after scoring zero in the first half ... Olsen also had seven second-half points, all from the line.