Box Score MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. – The Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball team fell, 89-61, to Robert Morris in the Northeast Conference Tournament quarterfinals on Sunday afternoon. The Knights finish their season at 10-20 (7-11 NEC), while the Colonials continue on to defend their league championship while improving to 16-14 (13-5 NEC).
"That was a disappointing way to end our season. We played probably one of our best halves, shooting incredibly well all across the board, in the first half," Head Coach Pete Cinella said after the game, "And yet we were still down two. We did come out strong to start the second half but Robert Morris continued to make shot after shot and played a tremendous game. Tiffany [Grant] and Amanda [Andrades] both battled until the last few seconds and I'm proud of them. Robert Morris played great on their home court, which is what they do."
The first half played out at a frantic pace with both teams shooting over 56% from the floor and a combined nine turnovers.
The Knights started the contest with a
Tiffany Grant (Odenton, Md./Arundel) three-pointer and a 16-13 run on 7-of-10 shooting over the first six minutes. The two schools exchanged leads for nearly three minutes with
Amanda Andrades (Virginia Beach, Va./Princess Anne) nailing her second trey of the game to that point to give her team a two-point lead, 21-19, with 11:33 to play.
From that point on, the Colonials led for the entire half except for two ties and a brief one-point lead after
Erika Livermore (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area) converted a layup at the 7:44 minute mark.
Robert Morris showed its depth with 10 different players getting on the scoreboard in the first period. Cruz paced all scorers with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting.
FDU came out of the break energized on a 6-2 run. Livermore converted an and-one opportunity to tie the game up at 42 and
Kelsey Cruz (Chester, Va./Lloyd C. Bird)'s jumper gave the visitors a lead just 90 seconds into the half.
The Colonials responded with a 12-4 run to take their largest lead of the afternoon, now up 54-48, with 13 minutes to play. Anna Niki Stamolamprou had a three-point play of her own to expand that lead to nine and she pushed it up to 11 with a three-pointer just two minutes later.
The hosts would end the contest on a 28-11 run with four separate runs of six or seven straight points.
Robert Morris scored 49 points compared to the Knights' 23 in the second period and outrebounded the visitors, 27-20. FDU shot just 21.9% from the floor, with no threes, in the second half although committing just seven turnovers.
The Knights had, by far, a season-low in defensive stats, with no blocks and just two steals coming in the second half.
Livermore paced FDU with 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting, while Cruz added three second-half points to finish with 18 on 33% shooting from the floor and Grant, who scored the game's opening and closing points, chipped in 11. Andrades added nine points and eight assists in her final FDU game.
Rebeca Navarro led all scorers with 23 on 8-of-12 shooting. She was joined in double figures by Megan Smith's 12 and Stamolamprou's 13. The latter added 11 rebounds and eight assists.
