The Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball team suffered a heart-breaking loss in the final two seconds Thursday evening to NEC-foe Long Island, 66-65, at the Wellness Center in Brooklyn, NY.  The Knights rallied from a 13-point halftime deficit to take the lead in the second half.  The Blackbirds improve to 17-9 (11-4 NEC) on the season, while the Knights fall to 8-18 (4-11 NEC) overall.

Mariyah Laury (Orange, NJ/Orange) led all scorers with 24 points.  Alyssa Mayrose (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) added 21 points, including 16 points after halftime, and seven rebounds.  Esther Wallace (Springfield, MA/Springfield Central) pulled down a team-high eight rebounds to pace the Knights on the glass.  She also tied a career high with five blocks. 

The Blackbirds quickly started the game by scoring the first seven points.  Mayrose's deep three-pointer from the left wing ended the scoring drought and put the Knights on the scoreboard.

Jasmyra Saunders (Trenton, NJ/Trenton Catholic)' short jumper next time down cut the lead to 7-5.  After the Blackbirds scored a basket, Laury knocked down a short jumper to cut the lead back to two.

The Blackbirds scored five unanswered points to extend their lead back to five before Laury's layup cut the lead to 12-9, with 12:59 to go in the first half.

Long Island then scored five more unanswered points to extend their lead to eight.  The Knights answered with four straight points on a Kayla Killian (Cliffwood Beach, NJ/St. John Vianney) free throw and a Laury trey ball that she banked in from the left wing.

The Blackbirds then went back up eight at 21-13, with 10:22 to go.

Laury's second three-pointer of the half triggered a 7-0 run.  During the run, Jenna Strich stole the ball and led a 2-on-1 fast break that saw her deliver an unbelievable behind-the-back pass to Laury, who scored the easy layup.  Next time down, Strich missed a shot but grabbed the offensive rebound and converted the put back.   That basket put the Knights down one, 21-20.

The Blackbirds then outscored the Knights, 19-6, over the 8:28 of the first half.  Mayrose knocked down a pull-up jumper to cut the lead to 32-27, but the Blackbirds scored the final eight points of the half to go into halftime leading, 40-27.

Laury led the Knights in scoring in the first half with 14 points.  She went 6-for-10 from the field, including 2-for-2 from behind-the-arc.  Three different Knights had three rebounds to lead the team on the boards in the first half.

The Knights shot 36.7 percent (11-for-30) from the field in the first half, but they knocked down 4-for-7 from three-point range.  The Blackbirds shot 47.1 percent (16-for-34) from the field, but only went 2-for-8 from behind-the-arc.

Long Island won the first-half rebounding battle, out-rebounding the Knights, 21-18.  They also forced 10 turnovers by the Knights, including eight steals.  The Knights recorded four steals and forced seven turnovers by the Blackbirds.

The Knights opened up the second half by scoring the first five points as Mayrose knocked down a three-pointer from the right wing and Laury connecting on a layup.

The Knights were able to keep within striking distance of the Blackbirds as they were able to keep the deficit within five to seven points over the next eight minutes.

Alannah Driscoll-Sbar (Northampton, MA/Northampton)'s baseline jumper cut the lead to 48-45.  Killian then tied the game on a three-pointer from the right wing, with 11:50 to go in the game.

The Knights took their first lead of the game, 50-48, when Driscoll-Sbar pulled down a defensive rebound and found Laury, who threw a full-court pass to Mayrose for an easy layup. 

In a game that featured six ties and eight lead changes, the Blackbirds came back and tied the game at 50.  Killian then scored a layup to put the Knights back up two.

Long Island then answered with a three-pointer to regain the lead, 53-52, but that was short lived as Saunders scored on a left-handed layup to put the Knights back on top by one.

The lead would change four more times before a Blackbird free throw tied the game at 58, with 5:44 to go.

Mayrose's layup put the Knights back up, 60-58 before the Blackbirds once again tied the game at 60, with 4:35 to go in the game.

With the score still tied at 60, Mayrose took a big-time charge on a Blackbirds' fast break, with 2:28 to go.

Killian then broke the tie as she knocked down the front-end of a one-and-one.  However, she missed the second free throw, but the Knights had a one-point lead with 1:33 to go in the game.

After a loose-ball scramble, the Knights were able to come up with the ball, and Laury was fouled.  She went to the line and knocked down both free throws to give the Knights a three-point lead, 65-62, with 1:19 to go in the game.

The Knights then made a huge defensive stop and had an opportunity to add on to their precious three-point lead with a little over a minute to go.

With the shot clock winding down, Laury attempted a pass that was blocked, and Long Island was able to grab the loose ball and scored a fast break layup to cut the lead to 65-64.

The Knights then had the ball with 0:37 left and had one more chance to extend their lead.  However, Ashley Palmer stole the ball for the Blackbirds, with 0:17 seconds left.

The Blackbirds decided not to call a timeout and quickly moved the ball up the court.  Chelsi Johnson missed a shot with 0:04 to go, but Palmer was able to grab the offensive rebound and score on a put-back to give the Blackbirds back the lead, 66-65, with 0:02 left in the game.

The Knights had no timeouts left, and Laury's prayer from half court was taken too late, and the Blackbirds escaped the upset-minded Knights, 66-65.

"It was a great performance to comeback from 13 down at halftime to take the lead late," said Head Coach Pete Cinella.  "They hit a lot of big shots to win the game.  They had 24 offensive rebounds and the last one won the game for them.  We just have to do a better job of rebounding."

The Knights shot 48 percent in the second half to finish the game shooting 41.8 percent (23-for-55) from the field.  They shot the ball well from three-point range for the third straight game as they shot 58.3 percent (7-for-12) from downtown. 

After a great first half of shooting the ball, the Blackbirds only shot 29 percent in the second half and finished the game shooting 38.5 percent (25-for-65) from the field.  They only shot 4-for-16 from three-point range.

Both teams made 12 free throws, but the Knights only missed two the entire game, while the Blackbirds missed nine. 

The Blackbirds out-rebounded the Knights, 43-36, and that included 24 offensive rebounds.  They also recorded 13 steals and forced 17 turnovers by the Knights.  The Blackbirds turned the ball over 15 times.

Palmer registered a double-double as she led the Blackbirds with 22 points and 11 rebounds.  Kiara Evans added 11 points, seven rebounds, and eight assists.  Connie James chipped in 10 points and seven rebounds.

The Knights return to Brooklyn on Saturday to face St. Francis (NY) in an NEC tilt.  Tip-off is slated for 2:00 p.m.