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FDU Game Notes
Syracuse Game Notes
 
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball team will play its second game of the season when they travel to Syracuse for a contest at the Carrier Dome on Sunday, Nov. 11, at 5 p.m. The Knights are coming off a 76-56 season-opening loss at Siena on Friday evening, while the Orange will be making their 2012-13 season debut.
 
The Knights (0-1) and the Orange will be meeting for only the third time with Syracuse winning the previous two, including a 65-45 win at the Carrier Dome back on Nov. 13, 2009 to open the season for both teams. The only other meeting took place on Dec. 12, 1997.
 
In FDU's opener against Siena at the Times Union Center, sophomore Erika Livermore (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area) secured the seventh double-double of her career with 14 points and a game-high 14 rebounds, six of which were offensive. Redshirt junior Danielle Pankey (Middletown, N.J./Middletown South) scored a team-high 15 points on 7-of-15 shooting in the defeat. In the game, FDU outscored the Saints by a 30-28 margin in the paint, but was outrebounded 51-44 and shot 12.5 percent on three's on 3-of-24 shooting to Siena's 50 percent on 9-of-18 from long distance.
 
FDU shot 30.3 percent from the field on 20-of-66 shooting, while Siena shot at a 36.9 percent clip with 24-of-65 shooting. The Knights committed 13 second-half turnovers and turned the ball over 21 times to the Saints' 20.
 
Syracuse opens the 2012-13 season on Sunday and is coming off a 22-15 season in 2011-12, its third straight season of 22 or more wins, capped off with a four-game road winning streak in the WNIT, reaching to tournament's semfinals for the first time in program history.
 
Picked to finish seventh in the BIG EAST, while receiving votes in the Preseason USA Today Preseason Coaches' Poll, Syracuse returns four starters and eight of its top nine scorers from last season.
 
In all, the Orange has 77 percent of its scoring and 85 percent of its rebounding back from last season's 22-win team. The top returning scorer is senior center and Preseason All-BIG EAST selection Kayla Alexander (14.8 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 2.6 bpg). The Orange's top rebounder from last year, Carmen Tyson-Thomas (10.7 ppg, 7.8 rpg) returns for her senior campaign.
 
Rounding out the three returning starting seniors is Elashier Hall (8.7 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 2.9 apg. Now a junior, point guard Rachel Coffey (5.6 ppg, 3.2 apg) had a breakout season in 2011-12, becoming the Orange's top outside shooting threat (.362 3fg pct.). Syraucse also brings back four players that saw significant minutes off the bench, and in some cases started games,  in 2011-12: Phylesha Bullard (2.8 ppg, 2.5 rpg), Shakeya Leary (4.9 ppg, 5.6 rpg), La'Shay Taft (3.9 ppg) and Shanee Williams (2.3 ppg).
 
Following the game against Syracuse, FDU will make its home debut at Stratis Arena on Thursday, Nov. 15, at 5 p.m. against Army.