Box Score HACKENSACK, N.J. - Fairleigh Dickinson never trailed, committed a season-low of 11 turnovers and shot 43-percent from the field to win its Northeast Conference opener against St. Francis Brooklyn, 65-61.
The Knights (4-9, 1-0 NEC) turned it over less than 15 times for the second time this season, they are 2-0 in those games.
Kelsey Cruz (Chester, Va./Lloyd C. Bird) led all scorers with 23 points (8-of-21).
Erika Livermore (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area) had 17 points and seven rebounds. The redshirt-senior now has 960 career rebounds, which is second in program history.
Kiana Brown (Richmond, Va./Hermitage) was the third Knight in double figures with 11-tied a season-high. The junior added four steals, four rebounds and three steals.
The Knights scored 11 of the game's first 13 points to take an 11-2 lead over the opening seven minutes. Fairleigh Dickinson extended the lead to as many as 10, 17-7, off a layup from
Jackie Jackson ( Gaithersburg, Md./ Gaithersburg) at 1:08 of the quarter.
A Cruz layup got the Knights' lead back to 10, 20-10, at 8:37 of the second quarter. St. Francis Brooklyn chipped away and tied the game at 27 with 2:12 to play in the half. A jumper from Livermore and a layin from Brown gave Fairleigh Dickinson the four-point lead heading into the break.
Fairleigh Dickinson stretched the lead to 10 again at 54-44 with 6:48 to go in the game. The Terriers (3-9, 0-1 NEC) slowly chipped over the next six minutes. A three-pointer from Kat Phipps cut the Knight lead to 1 at 62-61 with 50 seconds to play.
After a Knight turnover, the Terriers had a chance to take the lead but Leah Fechko missed a jumper with 26 seconds to play and Fairleigh Dickinson got the rebound. Cruz then went down and hit two free throws to make it 64-61. On the ensuing Terrier possession, Jackson blocked a three-point attempt from
Alex Delaney with 11 seconds to play and Livermore secured the rebound to preserve the win. Delaney led the Terriers with 15 on the afternoon.
The Knights welcome Bryant to the Stratis Arena on Monday at 5 p.m. as part of men's and women's doubleheader against the bulldogs.
