Box Score BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, N.Y. - The Fairleigh Dickinson fourth-quarter comeback attempt came up short as the Knights fell on the road to the St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers, 88-78, on Monday night.
The Knights were down 62-44 heading into the fourth quarter and trailed 45-32 at the half. The two sides traded baskets in the opening two minutes of the quarter before Fairleigh Dickinson (9-16, 6-6 NEC) started to make its run.
"We showed some spirit with cutting the lead three with less than three minutes to go", said head
Peter Cinella. "Their great senior [Leah] Fechko then stepped up and hit a three. I liked the aggressiveness and desire that we showed in the second half."
He continued, "We shot the ball well and had a season-low six turnovers but the rebounding differential proved to be too much to overcome. I think out freshmen did a good job, getting double figures and Zeynep did a good job running the team with the second unit".
Kelsey Cruz (Chester, Va./Lloyd C. Bird) and
Natalie Zamora (Albuquerque, N.M./St. Pius X) scored back-to-back buckets to cut the deficit to 13, 66-53, with 7:40 to play. Two Cruz free throws with 5:16 left got the Knights to within 11 at 70-59. Zamora - finished with a career-high 13 points - then hit a three-pointer to get Fairleigh Dickinson to within five, 70-65 at 3:33 mark.
Fairleigh Dickinson got to as close as they would get on its next possession when Zamora drove and found the basket to make it a three-point game, 70-67, with 2:41 left.
Leah Fechko - 25 points (9-of-10 on free throws) and 13 rebounds - hit a three-pointer to move the St. Francis Brooklyn (5-18, 2-10 NEC) lead back to six, 73-67, with 2:04 left. Alex Delany had 18 points and seven rebounds for the Terriers also.
The Terriers, who did not hit a field goal for the last six minutes, hit 15 free throws in the last 1:44 to seal the win.
Erika Livermore (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area) finished with a game-high and tied her season high with 28 points. She added six rebounds and four blocks - season-high. Cruz finished with 15 points before fouling out.
Madelynn Comly (Littlestown, Pa./Delone Catholic) had 13 along with Zamora, both of whom fouled out as well. Zamora also had four steals - career-high.
Zeynep Akgun (Ankara, Turkey/Ted Ankara) had seven assists - new career-high - off the bench and Fairleigh Dickinson had 18 as a team compared to eight turnovers.
The Knights shot 41-percent from the field, 47-percent from three-point range and 84-percent from the line but were outrebounded by the Terrier 52-26. It is a season-low of rebounds for the Knights and it is the largest margin in which the Knights were outrebounded by.
Fairleigh Dickinson will try to sweep Robert Morris in their next contest on Saturday, February 13 at 2 p.m. The Knights won out in Moon Township, Pennsylvania 83-68 back on January 16.
