Box Score

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball team used a 15-0 run over two halves to defeat Wagner, 68-59, Saturday afternoon in the Northeast Conference opener for both sides at Spiro Sports Center. With the victory, the Knights improve to 6-6 (1-0 NEC) on the season, while the Seahawks fall to 1-11 (0-1 NEC) overall.

Redshirt junior Danielle Pankey (Middletown, N.J./Middletown South)'s career day led FDU to its fifth victory in six games. The 5-11 guard poured in a career-high 28 points, tied a career-high in rebounds with 10 and recorded a career best six steals. The double-double is her second this season and of her career.

Sophomore Erika Livermore (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area) picked up her ninth double-double in 12 games as she added 15 points and pulled down a game-high 17 rebounds to tie her career high. Fellow classmate Stephanie Isaacs (Fair Haven, N.J./Rumson-Fair Haven) chipped in 11 points, knocking down 3-of-7 from behind the arc.

Trailing by 11 with two seconds left in the first half, sophomore Miah Register (Trenton, N.J./Trenton Catholic) stole the ball and nailed a three-pointer from the top of the key to cut the Knights' deficit to 33-25 at halftime.

Coming out of halftime, FDU scored the first 12 points and took a 37-33 lead, which it never relinquished.  Isaacs' three from the left wing gave the Knights the lead for good.

After seeing Wagner cut the lead to two, the Knights, who eventually outscored the Seahawks, 30-9, scored 10 unanswered points as Register found Livermore for a layup to give FDU its largest lead of the game, 52-42, with 10:18 remaining in the contest, forcing a Wagner 30-second timeout.

The Seahawks cut the deficit to five on two occasions, but an old-fashion three-point play by Pankey put the Knights back up, 60-52, with 3:35 to go.

Six straight points from Wagner cut the lead to 61-58 with a little under two minutes remaining, but FDU scored seven of the final eight points to hang on for the 68-59 victory.

The Knights held the Seahawks to 26.9 percent shooting in the second half, after Wagner connected on 42.4 percent of its shots over the opening 20 minutes. The home team finished the game shooting 35.6 percent (21-of-59), including 9-of-25 from three-point range.

FDU shot 36.5 percent (23-of-63) and made 6-of-17 three's to tie a season high but only converted 16-of-30 free throws. However, the Knights forced a season-best 27 turnovers, which led to 23 points. The 68 points is a season high for FDU.

After being outrebounded in the first half, 25-18, the Knights controlled the glass in the second half to win the rebounding battle, 46-40, with 20 offensive rebounds leading to 17 second-chance points.

To open the contest, FDU jumped out to a quick 4-2 lead in the opening minutes, but the Seahawks answered with eight unanswered points to go up 10-4 with 14:54 to go before halftime.

Wagner eventually took its largest lead of the half, 24-12, with 5:50 remaining in the half before five straight points from Pankey cut the lead back to seven.

After the Seahawks went back up double-digits, Register's steal and three-pointer facilitated the Knights' comeback victory.

“Wagner really came to play in the first half,” Head Coach Peter Cinella said. “They have a lot of great shooters, but we were really able to do a great job defensively. Danielle Pankey (Middletown, N.J./Middletown South) willed her way to getting the ball in the high post in the second half. We had some different people step up and give us some contributions, and we played really well in the second half.”

Marie-Laurence Archambault led Wagner with 20 points and eight rebounds. Jordyn Peck added 19 points and eight rebounds off the bench.

FDU will have one day off before traveling to Emmitsburg, Md. to take on Mount St. Mary's at Knott Arena. Tipoff for the NEC contest is scheduled for 7 p.m.