The Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball fell, 83-76, at Mount St. Mary's in Emmitsburg, Maryland on Saturday, February 5. The high-scoring contest saw three double-digit scorers from FDU and four from MSM. With the loss, the Knights fall to 11-11 on the season (4-7 NEC), while the Mount improves to 4-17 (2-9 NEC).
After scoring seven points on turnovers and five points from the charity stripe just five minutes into the game, The Mount took an early nine point lead, 15-6.
The Knights and the Mount fought for points midway through the half, scoring eight and seven points, respectively, in a two minute span. Jasmyra Saunders (Trenton, NJ/Trenton Catholic) came off the bench and grabbed a quick eight points to bring the Knights within two.
Down two points with 9:32 to go, Esther Wallace (Springfield, MA/Springfield Central) was fouled and went to the line for two free-throws. Wallace made her first to bring the Knights within one but missed her second free-throw. In an exciting turn of events, Wallace grabbed her own rebound and put it back up to take the lead, 24-25, with 8:55 left in the half.
FDU went on a 7-2 run to take a six point lead with 7:21 left to play. The Mount battled back but could not recover the lead. The Knights went into the break leading, 37-40.
In the first 20 minutes, Saunders led the Knights with 11 points. Mariyah Laury (Orange, NJ/Orange) had 10 for the FDU, while red-shirt freshman Danielle Pankey (Middletown, N.J./Middletown South) added eight.
Both teams were strong in the field during the first half. FDU shot 68.0 percent (17-for-25) while MSM was not far behind with 50.0 percent (13-for-26).
Mount St. Mary's began the second half with an 8-0 run, reclaiming the lead in the first two minutes. The Mount would hold onto the lead through the first ten minutes of play before a three from Laury tied the game at 58.
That would be the Knights' last chance as Mount St. Mary's ran away with the lead by capitalizing from the free-throw line. The Mount went 19-for-25 from the line in the final seven minutes of the game.
After trailing by 15 points late in the second half, the Knights clawed their way back to get within six points at the end of the game.
The Knights' scoring attempt was paced by Saunders who had a season-high 25 points. Laury added 22 for the Knights, while Pankey finished with 14. Jordan Sykes (Avalon, NJ/Holy Spirit) led the team on the glass with a season-high nine rebounds. Sykes also added five assists to the team's total of 14.
The Mount was led by Ashley Christie who had 21 points. Mary Dunn added 16 for MSM including 12-of-13 from the free throw line. The Mount made a total of 30-for-43 shots from the line, while the Knights made nine of 12 attempts.
"It was one of our best shooting games," said Head Coach Pete Cinella. "We did a good job moving the ball and had a great passing game with 14 assists."
"We out-rebounded The Mount [30-29], but we have to keep improving our team defense," he added. "We need to bounce back for Monday night's game."
The Knights return to action in another road game, Monday, February 7 at Wagner. Tip-off in Staten Island, NY is scheduled for 7:00 pm.
