2014 All-NEC (PDF)

Somerset, NJ – When the Northeast Conference (NEC) announced its individual award winners and All-League members today, following a vote of the league's 10 head coaches, it marked a historic moment in the history of the Wagner women's basketball program.
 
Freshman point guard Jasmine Nwajei (Rockaway Park, NY/Murry Bergtraum) was named the 2014 Northeast Conference (NEC) Rookie of the Year, and earned a spot on the league's second team and the All-Rookie Team, while redshirt-sophomore center Ugo Nwaigwe (Valley Stream, NY/Valley Stream South) was tabbed as the league's Defensive Player of the Year and a member of the All-Defensive Team.
 
Nwajei becomes just the second NEC Rookie of the Year in Wagner women's basketball program history, joining Seahawk Hall of Fame member Cynthia Quinlan (1986-1987) in this exclusive club. Nwaigwe is the first Seahawk to ever be named Defensive Player of the Year. The 5-8 New York City guard also becomes the Seahawks' first All-NEC Team member since Carrie Walker was named to the second team after the 2003-2004 regular season.
 
Nwajei and Nwaigwe are key components in the renaissance of Wagner women's basketball that is taking place under second-year head coach Lisa Cermignano. With an 11-member roster, nine of whom are in their first or second season of eligibility, the Seahawks completed the regular season with an 8-10 mark in NEC play, while also gaining a berth in the NEC Tournament for the first time since the 2009-2010 season.
 
After going 2-16 in league play last season, Wagner quadrupled its conference win total in 2013-2014, earning the No. 7 seed in the NEC Tourney. The Green & White will travel to No. 2 seed Mount St. Mary's on Sunday at 2:00 pm.
 
The NEC's most improved team by every measure, the 9-20 Seahawks also feature the prodigious talents of sophomore guard Jordyn Peck (Shaker Heights, OH/Shaker Heights), a member of the 2012-2013 NEC All-Rookie Team, whose 20.3-point scoring average led the Seahawks and ranked No. 4 in the NEC.
 
Nwajei was a six-time Northeast Conference (NEC) Rookie of the Week selection this season, which ties a school record (Meredith Kearns, 1998-1999) and holds the Wagner freshman record for points (500) and assists (127). In 2013-2014, Nwajei was the second-leading scorer in the NEC (conference games) at 21.9 points per game and No. 1 in assists at 5.53 helpers per game. She scored 20 or more points in 12 of the 17 NEC games in which she played and topped the 20-point mark 13 times overall.
 
Overall, Nwajei has scored 25 or more points in a game eight times on the season, and tallied a career-high 29 points in a 67-48 win over Fairleigh Dickinson (FDU) on Feb. 17. That night, she narrowly missed a triple-double, adding 11 rebounds and nine assists to her 29-point total. Nwajei trumpeted her arrival to the college game in the season opener on November 10 when she scored the first five points of the game en route to a 19-point outing vs. No. 7 Kentucky.
 
Nwaigwe enters the NEC Tournament ranked No. 2 in the nation in blocked shots per game (4.00) and No. 1 in the NEC in both conference and overall games. Her 112 blocks easily shattered the previous Wagner single-season school record set by Ali Ridge in 2005-2006. She enters Sunday's play five blocks shy of the all-time NEC single-season blocks record of 117 set by Monmouth's Suzanne Johnson in the 1990-1991 season.
 
On February 17, the 6-3 Nwaigwe had an eye-opening 13 blocks vs. Fairleigh Dickinson, breaking both the previous Seahawk single-game record for blocks (10) and NEC single-game record (12). The 13-block game also tied for seventh on the NCAA Division I all-time single-game list and is just three shy of the all-time Division I mark of 16 and ties for the top shot-blocking game in NEC history. In that FDU game, she recorded the first triple-double in school history, with 12 points and 19 rebounds, to go with the 13 blocks.
 
While Nwaigwe's shot-blocking acumen gains most of the notoriety, she also ranked No. 1 in the NEC in field goal percentage at .630, while also ranking fourth in rebounding with an average of 10.2 boards per game. Nwaigwe delivered a mammoth 24-rebound game in a 16-point win over first-place Robert Morris on Feb. 3, which ties for the third-highest rebounding game in Wagner history and ties for the fifth-highest game in NEC history.

Follow Wagner Athletics on Twitter (@wagnerathletics) for all the latest news and updates on the athletic department, @WagSwagg_WBB for news and updates on the women's basketball program and @CERMIGNANO for news on the second-year coach