The Fairleigh Dickinson University women's basketball team won a hard-fought battle, 66-62, over Wagner College on Monday, Feb. 20 at Spiro Sports Center in Staten Island, NY.  With the win, the Knights improve to 13-15 on the season with an even 8-8 Northeast Conference record.  The Seahawks fall to 2-25 with a 1-15 conference mark. 

With the win, the Knights clinch a position in the Northeast Conference postseason tournament.

After trailing by 13 points at the start of the second half, the Knights challenged Wagner with a 12-2 run midway through the half.  The Knights took the lead, 47-46, with eight minutes to play. 

The teams battled for the lead in the final minutes of the game but a three-pointer by Danielle Pankey (Middletown, N.J./Middletown South) and eight-consecutive free-throws by Mariyah Laury (Orange, NJ/Orange) gave the Knights the ultimate advantage, 66-62. 

Desiree Crawford (Aurora, Ontario/Cardinal Carter Catholic) led the Knights' comeback with 15 second-half points.  She also brought down ten rebounds for FDU.  Laury added 23 points including eight made free-throws in the final two minutes, while Pankey chipped in 14 to contribute to the Knights' point total. 

The Knights took a five-point lead in the first three minutes of the game, but a 13-2 run by the Seahawks gave the home team a 9-15 advantage with 12 minutes to play.

A three-pointer by Laury cut Wagner's momentum and sparked a run for Laury.  She scored seven points in the next minute to cut the deficit to one point midway through the half. 

Wagner went ahead again with a 12-3 run to end the half.  The Knights went into the break trailing, 21-31. 

The biggest difference in the first half was the shooting percentage.  Although the Knights took four more shots than the Seahawks, they converted just 18.8 percent of those shots, while Wagner made 46.4 percent of their shots. 

The Seahawks maintained a double-digit lead through the first six minutes of the second half.  Twelve unanswered points, culminated by back-to-back baskets by Laury, gave the Knights the lead again, 47-46, with eight minutes to play. 

The teams fought for the lead in the final minutes of play, with each team holding no more than a one-point advantage. 

A three-pointer by Pankey with 1:44 on the clock gave the Knights the boost they needed to finish out the game.  Laury sank eight-of-eight shots from the charity stripe in the final two minutes to secure the win.

The Knights shot 40.5 percent from the field to out-score Wagner, 45-31 in the second half.  They out-rebounded the Seahawks, 25-14 in the second half for an overall 47-35 rebounding effort. 

Laury led the Knights with 23 points.  She also set a new FDU program record for consecutive games with her 116^th career game.  Crawford set a new career-high with 15 points.  She led all players on the boards with ten. 

The Knights will host St. Francis NY and LIU Brooklyn in the season finale series next weekend at Stratis Arena.