Box Score
HACKENSACK, N.J. - Kiana Brown (Richmond, Va./Hermitage) dished out a career-high 10 assists to go with three steals to help the Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball team overcome Mount St. Mary's by a score of 66-53 on Sunday evening at the Stratis Arena. The Knights handed The Mount its fourth straight loss while improving to 3-4 in the Northeast Conference, 6-14 overall. The visiting Mountaineers drop to 2-5 in conference action and 4-14 on the year.

To the credit of the Knights' defense, no Mountaineer scored more than 10 points in the game and held Mount St. Mary's to 4-of-22 from three-point range (18.2-percent). Fairleigh Dickinson also benefitted from its bench presence as the reserves contributed 32 points including senior guard Kelsey Cruz (Chester, Va./Lloyd C. Bird) who added 22 points in just 27 minutes to lead all scorers. Starting center Erica Livermore registered 19 points and five rebounds. Redshirt-Junior Jackie Jackson ( Gaithersburg, Md./ Gaithersburg) grabbed eight boards including four on each end of the floor.

Head Coach Peter Cinella said afterwards, "It was a team win today. We did it with defensive intensity and focus. Our second half zone was excellent. Kiana [Brown] spearheaded that at the top with her steals and assists. I really liked the game Jackie Jackson ( Gaithersburg, Md./ Gaithersburg) played in the fourth quarter".

"Kiana did a great job of handling the double teams and finding the open man. We have to learn how to be consistent in back-to-back games, that is our next test."

Brown scored four points to go along with those 10 assists--compared to four turnovers--and three steals. Cruz went 8-of-16 from the floor, including 4-of-6 from behind the arc and Livermore was 7-of-13 from the field on the afternoon. As a team, the Knights had 15 assists and nine steals, it is the second time in three games that the Knights had 15 or more assists.

Fairleigh Dickinson led after the first period, 17-15, and led by five four minutes into the second quarter. Mount St. Mary's then tied the score at 25 and took a four-point lead, its largest of the day, with 26 seconds to play in the quarter. A Cruz three-pointer cut the lead to one at 28-27 with seven to seconds to play in the opening half. 

In the third, the Knights tied it at 37 off a layup from Cruz and then scored the next nine points to take a 46-37 lead into the fourth quarter. Brianna Thomas (Baldwin, N.Y./St. John the Baptist Diocesan) capped the run with two free throws. A Jackson layup extended the lead to 11, 53-42, with 5:31 to play in the game. The Mount would get it back to nine but the Knights responded with a three-pointer from Cruz to move the lead back to 12 and Fairleigh Dickinson never led by less than 10 for the last 3:29.

Up next for Fairleigh Dickinson is LIU Brooklyn, who visits the Stratis Arena on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The game was moved from Monday due to this weekend's storm.