Box Score

ALBANY, N.Y. – The Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball team opened the 2012-13 season with a tough 76-56 loss at the hands of Siena at the Times Union Center on Friday evening. The loss drops the Knights to 0-1, while  Saints improve to 1-0.

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, while 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.
 
Siena's Lily Grenci scored 13 of her game-high 19 points in the first half and capped off her double-double with 12 rebounds, including five on the offensive end. Clara Sole Anglada poured in 14 points and racked up eight rebounds for the home team.
 
FDU built up an early eight-point lead at 13-5 thanks to five points in the early going from Pankey on a three pointer and a layup. Pankey led the Knights with nine first-half points and five rebounds, and senior Torrie Childs (Trenton, N.J./Trenton Central) chipped in with five of her seven points in the first 20 minutes to go with six rebounds.
 
The Saints bounced back to score nine of the next 11 points for a 17-16 advantage with 10:31 to go before halftime. Hot shooting from Siena turned a one-point edge into a 12-point lead on the strength of a 12-1 run to give the Saints a 29-17 lead with 4:49 to go in the half.   
 
Despite forcing 12 first half turnovers, FDU found itself down as many as 15 points with 2:15 left on the first-half clock and took a 37-25 deficit into the locker room.
 
The Knights showed fight out of the intermission, trimming Siena's lead to nine at 39-30, 1:23 into the second half on three points from junior Desiree Crawford (Aurora, Ontario/Cardinal Carter Catholic) and a Pankey jumper.  FDU's offense went silent over the next 2:30 as the Saints took advantage with seven unanswered points for a 46-30 lead.
 
FDU would again chip away at the Saints' advantage and came to within 10 points on three occasions, the last one coming with 7:48 left in the game on two more of Crawford's six points. That was as close as the Burgundy and Blue would get, however, with Crawford's bucket turning out to be FDU's last field goal.

Down the stretch, Siena's lead grew to 18 at 70-52 with 2:44 to go as the Saints finished off the Knights for the 76-56 win.
 
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.

“Congratulations to Coach Ali Jaques on her first win. She's doing a really good job with her team,” Head Coach Peter Cinella said. “We got off to a good start at 16-10. We have to improve our rebounding and shot selection.”
  
On Sunday, Nov. 11, the Knights will take on Syracuse at 5 p.m. at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y.