Box Score

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball team rallied from a five-point deficit in the second half to defeat Columbia, 69-59, at Stratis Arena Sunday afternoon to pick up its first victory of the season. With the victory, the Knights improve to 1-4 on the season, while the Lions fall to 1-4 overall.

Trailing 46-41 with a little over 15 minutes remaining in the contest, FDU blew the game open with a 24-7 run to take a 65-53 lead with 5:02 left in the game.

The run started with six unanswered points by the Knights, and they took the lead for good at 49-48 on sophomore Brianna Thomas (Baldwin, N.Y./St. John the Baptist Diocesan)' coast-to-coast layup.

Columbia cut the deficit to eight points at 66-58 with 2:18 to go, but sophomore Kelsey Cruz (Chester, Va./Lloyd C. Bird) delivered the dagger with a three from the right wing at the 1:54 mark to clinch the victory for FDU.

In the first half, with the Lions leading 13-12, the visitors used a 13-4 spurt to take their largest lead of the game, 25-16, with 8:38 remaining before halftime. But FDU answered with 11 unanswered points, capped by an old-fashion three-point play from junior Katie Buskey (Maple Valley, Wash./Tahoma), to retake the lead at 27-25.

The Knights eventually outscored Columbia, 21-8, as a layup from junior Amanda Andrades (Virginia Beach, Va./Princess Anne) gave FDU a 37-33 lead, before going into the break up 37-35.

Thomas scored 16 points in a first half where FDU shot 41.3 percent (13-of-31), including 4-of-6 from distance. The Knights held Columbia to 32.4 percent (12-of-37) from the field and only 3-of-15 from behind-the-arc.

The Lions started the second half with another 13-4 spurt to take a 46-41 lead, which was when FDU started its big second-half run.

The Knights held Columbia to 25.9 percent shooting in the second half and 29.7 percent (19-of-64) for the contest. FDU finished at 40.3 percent (27-of-67) from the field and held a 43-42 edge on the glass.

Thomas poured in a career-high 26 points to lead all scorers. Cruz came off the bench to add 12 points, while senior Desiree Crawford (Aurora, Ontario/Cardinal Carter Catholic) chipped in 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds and three blocks. Andrades dished out a game-high seven assists.

"It was a total team effort, we outrebounded them and held our turnovers low (13)," Head Coach Peter Cinella said. "Brianna Thomas (Baldwin, N.Y./St. John the Baptist Diocesan) was tremendous as an attacker; Desiree Crawford (Aurora, Ontario/Cardinal Carter Catholic) was a huge presence on both ends of the court; Amanda Andrades (Virginia Beach, Va./Princess Anne) showed great leadership running the team. Also, Kelsey Cruz (Chester, Va./Lloyd C. Bird) hit big shots off the bench, and Tiffany Grant (Odenton, Md./Arundel) showed some good defensive sequences."

Miwa Tachibana led the Lions with 17 points, while Tori Oliver added 14 points. Courtney Bradford collected a game-high 10 rebounds.

The Knights will look for two in a row when they conclude their four-game homestand against McNeese State on Wednesday, Nov. 27. Tipoff  at Stratis Arena is scheduled for 1 p.m.