Box Score

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- The Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball team fell to West Virginia, 94-47, Saturday afternoon at the WVU Coliseum. With the victory, the Mountaineers, who received votes in this week's AP Top 25, improve to 7-1 on the season, while the Knights fall to 1-6 overall.

Sophomore Brianna Thomas (Baldwin, N.Y./St. John the Baptist Diocesan) scored 17 of her team-high 23 points after halftime and now has scored 20 more points in three consecutive contests. Senior Desiree Crawford (Aurora, Ontario/Cardinal Carter Catholic) grabbed a team-best six rebounds and swatted away a season-high four blocked shots.

FDU took a 7-3 early on and played ahead for the last time after freshman Valerie Oyakhilome (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) knocked down a three-pointer to put the Knights back ahead at 12-9 with 13:10 to go before halftime.

But it was all West Virginia after that, as the Mountaineers scored the next 18 points en route to closing the half on a 34-5 run to go into the locker room leading 43-17.

The Knights got as close as 22 points in the second half on an old-fashion three-point play from Thomas at the 13:40 mark, but West Virginia was just too much for FDU, who also played without its second-leading scorer in sophomore Kelsey Cruz (Chester, Va./Lloyd C. Bird).

"We did a good job both starts of each half, outscoring them during the first four-minute time out periods," Head Coach Peter Cinella said. "But West Virginia has won seven in a row and is a tremendous fefense team. For Brianna Thomas (Baldwin, N.Y./St. John the Baptist Diocesan) to get 23 points against that defense is a great thing for our future. Desiree Crawford (Aurora, Ontario/Cardinal Carter Catholic) had a very good all-around defense and rebounding game. We did a good job shooting the three today and kept our turnovers to a good amount."

The Knights will return to action Wednesday, Dec. 11 when they host in-state rival Saint Peter's. Tipoff at Stratis Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m.