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Women's Basketball

Wagner Defeats FDU 67-48 In Historic Fashion On ESPN3

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Video Highlights, Post-Game Interviews / Photo Gallery (by Hilton Flores, Staten Island Advance)

Pictured Above: Ugo Nwaigwe and Jasmine Nwajei in action and being interviewed post-game by Wagner Hall of Fame member and ESPN3 analyst Brenda Milano.

Staten Island, NY – A boisterous crowd 1,172 on hand at the Spiro Sports Center, joined with an audience logged in across the globe on ESPN3, as witness to history during Wagner's 67-48 Northeast Conference (NEC) win over Fairleigh Dickinson tonight as center Ugo Nwaigwe (Valley Stream, NY/Valley Stream South) recorded the first triple-double in school history, a feat that was nearly matched by freshman guard Jasmine Nwajei (Rockaway Park, NY/Murry Bergtraum).

The 6-3 Nwaigwe, who entered the night ranked fifth nationally in blocked shots per game, set a school-record by swatting away 13 shots, while grabbing 19 rebounds and scoring 12 points. In the meantime, Nwajei was delivering a different form of magic, pouring in 29 points, to go with 10 rebounds and nine assists, leaving her one helper shy of joining her teammate in this exclusive club.

As has been their staple all season long, the Seahawk's calling card on this evening was defense, a stifiling brand of the gritty, in-your-face variety, with a laser focus of intensity - a brand of defense that led to the fewest allowed all season by a Seahawk opponent this season. In the face of this relentless defensive pressure, the Knights were limited to .227 shooting (17-of-75), the lowest percentage a team has shot against Wagner all year.

The history, and near history-making performances by Nwaigwe and Nwajei, respectively, accented a victory that is more than significant in the big picture. Entering play in seventh place in the league standings, tonight's win evened Wagner's record at 7-7 in conference play, inching the Seahawks to the cusp of earning a spot in next month's eight-team NEC Tournament. In fact, with four regular season games to go, it is conceivable that Wagner could make its way into the top four of the conference.

Now 8-17 overall and armed with the look of look of one of the NEC's most dangerous teams, Wagner has a pair of road tests on tap, travelling to LIU Brooklyn on Saturday at 2:00 pm before meeting Central Connecticut State on Monday at 7:00 pm.

The 13 blocks by Nwaigwe shattered the previous Seahawk single-game record of 10 held set by Meredith Kearns vs. Central Connecticut on January 4, 1999 and matched by Ali Ridge vs. NJIT on January 18, 2007 and ties an all-time NEC record (Suzanne Johnson, Monmouth vs. Delaware, 12/13/90).

Nwaigwe's 13-block effort also  ties for seventh on the NCAA Division I single-game list and is just three shy of the all-time Division I mark of 16 set by TCU's Sandora Irvin vs. UAB on January 16, 2005. Already the all-time Wagner leader in single-season blocks, Nwaigwe cracked the single-season century mark and is now at 101 and counting.

On this historic night, Nawaigwe passed an historic name on the Seahawk record list, displacing Hall of Fame member and all-time Wagner leading scorer, Stephanie Samuels (1982-86), for fifth place on the all-time blocks list. Nwaigwe is now up to 117 career blocks while Samuels' 111 now rank sixth.

The 13 blocks also tie for the high total in a game this season, equaling the number of rejections amassed by Iona's Sabrina Jeridore vs. Pacific back on November 13. Nwaigwe is also tied for the single-game rebounding mark this season as her 24 caroms vs. Robert Morris on February 3 ties four other players for the top rebounding game thus far in 2013-2014.

FDU, which knocked off Wagner 82-70 on February 8 in Hackensack, gave the Seahawks all they wanted early on in this one. With the score tied at 23-23 late in the first half, the Wagner scored 12 of the final 16 points of the half in building a 35-27 lead at intermission. The Seahawks then opened the second half on a 5-0 burst, making it a 17-4 run spanning the two halves and, in the process, extended the lead to 40-27 en route to the win.

Sophomore guard Jordyn Peck (Shaker Heights, OH/Shaker Heights) and senior forward Laura Amorosa (Kirkland, Quebec/Phillips Academy) added nine points each for the Seahawks who shot 42% from the floor for the game. Amanda Andrades led three FDU players in double figures with 18 while Kelsey Cruz and Brianna Thomas added 15 and 10 points, respectively.

NOTES – There were Hall of Famers aplenty on hand at the Spiro Center on Monday night. In addition to Brenda Milano, spotted in the crowd on this festive evening were two more members of Wagner women's basketball royalty in Hall of Fame members Maureen "Moe" Hannafin and Gela Mikalauskas.


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