at Monmouth (Sat., 3 p.m.) -- FDU NOTES | MU NOTES | LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO | TWITTER
at Saint Peter's (Tues., 7 p.m.) -- FDU NOTES | SPU NOTES | LIVE VIDEO ($) | TWITTER
HACKENSACK, N.J. - The second of three straight on the road for the Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball team has the Knights facing a former conference rival in Monmouth on Saturday afternoon. Fans can watch live on ESPN3 at 3 p.m.
OPENING TIP
FDU stays in state for the first of two games when it takes on Monmouth on Saturday afternoon. The Knights will try to move to 2-0 on the year against New Jersey institutions (won at NJIT).
SERIES SCORE
Saturday's meetings will be the 75th all-time between the Hawks and the Knights. Monmouth holds a 50-24 series lead. The two schools have met every year since 1977-78 season -- a majority of those coming as conference rivals. FDU won 81-75 last season in Teaneck to end a three-game Monmouth winning streak in the series. FDU is 8-27 all-time in Long Branch; last winning back in the 2011-12 season.
FDU VS. THE MAAC
Outside of Monmouth, the Knights are 53-100 against teams in the MAAC. 18 of those wins came against Marist. FDU went 2-2 against the MAAC last season (beating Monmouth and Saint Peter's, losing to Iona and Siena).
SCOUTING MONMOUTH
The Hawks come in at 3-5 after beating Sacred Heart 65-54 on the road Thursday night. Monmouth started the season with another road win by double digits at Robert Morris (69-56). The other win came against Lehigh. Tyese Purvis leads the way on offense for Monmouth with an average of 12 points per game. Taylor Nason is the leader on the glass at 7.8 per contest.
SCOUTING SAINT PETER'S
The Peacocks are 1-7 and take on St. Francis Brooklyn on Sunday before hosting Fairleigh Dickinson on Tuesday, December 13. Saint Peter's lost to Maryland in its last contest after getting its first win of the season against Marist on December 4, 73-69. Talah Hughes leads the offense for the Peacocks at 11.6 per game. Janelle Mullen and Sajanna Bethea are also averaging over eight points per game. Bethea and Hughes are one and two on the team in rebounding at 6.4 and 6.1 respectively.
LAST TIME OUT
FDU led 55-54 with 1:58 to play at UMass Lowell on Monday night but the River Hawks scored the last seven points of the game to win 61-55. UMass Lowell hit a three to take a 57-55 lead and then hit four free throws to seal the win. Kiana Brown, who hit a layup to give FDU the 55-54 lead, finished with 16 points five rebounds and four assists. Brianna Thomas led the Knights with 19 points.
700 CLUB
Saturday's game will be the 700th in the career of Peter Cinella as a head coach. He coached in 421 games at American International College (AIC) -- over 14 seasons -- and has coached in 278 at Fairleigh Dickinson coming into Saturday.
MASTER THIEVES
FDU is second in the NEC in steals per game at 8 per contest. The Knights had 10 at UMass Lowell, second straight game with double digit steals.
