Box Score

JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- The Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball team escaped with a 55-50 win at Saint Peter's Saturday afternoon at the Yanitelli Center. With the victory, the Knights improve to 3-5 on the season, while the Peahens fall to 0-6 overall.

Redshirt junior Danielle Pankey (Middletown, N.J./Middletown South) and sophomore Erika Livermore (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area) each produced double-doubles to lead FDU. Pankey scored a game-high 16 points, with 14 coming after halftime, grabbed a career-best 10 rebounds and picked up three steals, while Livermore chipped in 12 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

Sophomore Mariah Nunes (Ajax, Ontario/Bill Crothers ) added a career-high 15 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field, a season-high six rebounds and tied a career-best in steals with four. Senior Torrie Childs (Trenton, N.J./Trenton Central) came off the bench to score a season-high eight points and pulled down six rebounds, while junior Desiree Crawford (Aurora, Ontario/Cardinal Carter Catholic) grabbed a season-high nine rebounds, including six on the offensive glass.

“Saint Peter's is always a tough gym to play in,” Head Coach Pete Cinella said. “We were down two in the last two minutes, but we were able to find a way to step up and make big shots. Erika Livermore (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area) had a real tough shot to tie the game, and Danielle Pankey (Middletown, N.J./Middletown South) made a very tough field goal to put us in a very good position to win.”

In a game that featured seven ties and 14 lead changes, FDU outrebounded SPU, 50-38, and forced 15 turnovers, with 10 coming off steals.

The Knights only shot 32.3 percent (21-of-65) for the game and struggled from three-point range (1-of-13) and the free throw line. The Peahens managed to shoot 34.5 percent (19-of-55) from the field and only made 4-of-20 from behind the arc and 8-of-17 from the charity stripe.

FDU shot 39.3 percent (11-of-28) over the final 20 minutes, while limiting SPU to only 27.6 percent (8-of-29) during that stretch. The Knights outscored the Peahens, 30-10, in the paint and 18-5 on second-chance points.

FDU jumped out to a 13-10 lead with 11:12 remaining in the first half before SPU scored seven unanswered to take a 17-13 lead. The Knights eventually cut the lead to 27-25 at halftime.

A layup by Livermore and a three-pointer from Nunes gave FDU a 30-27 lead to start the second half, but the Peahens came back to regain the lead at 31-30.

With SPU still clinging to a one-point lead with a little over 10 minutes to go in the game, Livermore delivered a beautiful pass from the left wing to a backdoor-cutting Pankey, who converted the layup to trigger a 6-0 run, which gave the Knights a 43-38 lead with 8:45 remaining.

The Peahens answered with a 7-1 run and retook the lead, 45-44, with a little over six minutes left.

After each side took turns regaining the lead, Pankey's layup with 2:51 to go in the contest gave FDU the lead for good at 48-47 and started a 7-0 run to give the Knights a 53-47 lead with 48 seconds left.

SPU knocked down a three-pointer with 41 ticks on the clock, but Nunes iced the game with seven seconds to go and the shot clock at one with a jumper to give FDU the 55-50 victory.

“We had some different people step up today such as Mariah Nunes (Ajax, Ontario/Bill Crothers ), and we did a great job on the boards again,” Cinella said. “In the three games we have outrebounded our opponent, we have won those games.”

Antonia Smith led the Peahens with 11 points. Kaydine Bent added 10 points and seven rebounds, while Kristal Edwards chipped in eight points and a team-best nine rebounds.

The Knights will return to action on Tuesday, Dec. 11 when they travel to Long Island for a 7 p.m. tipoff at Stony Brook.