Box Score HACKENSACK, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball team (7-15, 4-7 NEC) rode a 51-point second half to a resounding 78-63 Northeast Conference victory over Saint Francis University (3-20, 2-10 NEC) on Monday night to complete the season sweep.
Junior guard
Kelsey Cruz (Chester, Va./Lloyd C. Bird) had yet another efficient performance, scoring a game-high 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting and redshirt sophomore
Anastasia Williams (Central Islip, N.Y./St. John the Baptist Diocesan) came off the bench to provide 13 second half points with tough defense and timely rebounding.
"It was a tremendous all-around effort in the second half. Anastasia was simply huge and a tremendous lift for our team in the second half." Head Coach Pete Cinella said, "The rebounding and scoring were great but she also took some crucial charges in the middle of the zone that changed the tempo of the game.
Valerie Oyakhilome (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) hit a couple of big three's while KC was quietly effective.
Amanda Andrades (Virginia Beach, Va./Princess Anne) and
Erika Livermore (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area) showed great poise against pressure."
The first half was marred by rampant fouling, turnovers, and poor shooting. Neither team shot better than 37% from the field and both committed over nine giveaways throughout the opening period.
Alexa Hayward, the conference's second-leading scorer, kicked the game off with nine points in just under three minutes, as the visiting Red Flash imposed their preferred up-tempo style on the game.
Despite taking a one-point lead on two occasions late in the half, Saint Francis U took a 32-27 lead into the break.
Shortly after an Aisha Brock three less than a minute into the half, the Knights ripped off five straight points to cut the lead to one. Hayward converted a pair of free throws but Livermore's fourth and-one of the evening knotted the game up at 39 with 16:58 to play.
With the visitors bumping their lead back up to three a little more than two minutes later, Cruz took over. The junior guard drained a jumper and sank two freebies sandwiched around a Corissa Archer layup and then drilled her second trey of the evening to give FDU a two-point lead, 46-44. Williams extended the lead to four with two free throws.
Hayward, who hadn't scored from the floor in 25 minutes, drained a long-range effort but Oyakhilome, fresh off the bench, answered immediately with one of her own. On the ensuing possessions, Hayward and Oyakhilome each hit another three-pointer to maintain FDU's four-point lead.
After two Brock free throws with 10:05 left, Andrades sparked an 8-0 run with a midrange jumper and over the next four minutes Williams converted three straight layups.
The Red Flash scored three points in 47 seconds but with 4:28 on the clock, Cruz hit another three-pointer and the Knights finished out the contest with a 16-8 run with most of their damage coming from the charity stripe.
FDU shot 55.2% as a team in the second half compared to 33.3% in the first, shot 42.9 from long range, and 73.3% from the line, including 30 free throw attempts to tie a season-high for the third time. The team shot over 44% from the floor for the fifth time in its last six contests.
Livermore chipped in 15 points, nine rebounds, two blocks, and three steals in 32 minutes, while Williams' 13 points mark a new career-high.
Oyakhilome joined her three teammates in double figures with 10 and Andrades, already third all-time in program history, finished with nine assists, the fourth time she has reached that mark this campaign.
Cruz converted over 45% of her double-digit field goal attempts for the sixth game in a row and seventh time in her previous eight games, dating back a month.
Hayward paced the Red Flash with 20 points on 5-of-21 shooting and Archer finished the contest with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
The Knights are on the road for a Valentine's Day NEC contest at Wagner, the first of a doubleheader involving both schools' men's teams, with tipoff slated for 1 p.m.
