HACKENSACK, N.J. – Madelynn Comly had a career-high 19 points but the Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball could not overcome a strong start from St. Francis Brooklyn as the Knights fell to the Terriers, 66-59, on Monday night.

St. Francis Brooklyn (6-13, 4-4 NEC) scored 13 of the first 19 points of the game and led 23-14 after the first quarter. The Terriers then extended the lead to as many as 17, 36-19, in the second quarter.

"You have to give St. Francis Brooklyn credit for how they started tonight," said head coach Peter Cinella. "They took away our movement offensively in the first quarter and came out with an aggressive mindset."

Fairleigh Dickinson (4-15, 2-6 NEC) trailed by 15 at halftime, 38-23. The Knights then made their run in the third quarter. After St. Francis Brooklyn got the lead to 23, 46-23 at the 7:11 mark, Fairleigh Dickinson answered with a 13-0 run over the next 3:49 to make it a 10-point game, 46-36.

During the run, Comly scored seven of her second half 14 points, Courtney Blankenship had four points and Amina Markovic added a bucket. The Knights defense played a major role in forcing six St. Francis Brooklyn turnovers during that span.

Cinella added, "The best thing we do is press. The key is scoring to get into our press. In the first half, we only made nine shots, which limited our opportunities to get into our press. In the third and fourth we made 15 shots, which led to more chances."

The Knights would cut the lead to seven, 50-43, heading into the fourth quarter when Peniel M'Bikata stole the ball at the 3-point line and raced the other way to score with three seconds to play in the third.

In the final 10 minutes, however, the Knights were unable to get any close than five of the Terriers. The Terrier lead would hover between eight and ten points for a majority of the period before a Comly 3-pointer got it to five, 62-57, with 23 seconds to play.

St. Francis Brooklyn, who was already in the bonus, hit two free throws to make it a seven-point lead before Natalie Zamora put in a layup to bring it back to five. Two more free throws from Kat Phipps made it the deciding seven-point margin.

Comly scored her 19 points on a career-high eight made field goals and added six rebounds and three steals. Markovic had her second straight game in double figures with 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds.

Blankenship and Zamora finished with eight points each.

Four Terriers were in double figures; led by 15 from Alex Delaney. Maria Palarino had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Fairleigh Dickinson scored more points in the paint (30-20), off turnovers (26-21) than St. Francis Brooklyn and forced 24 turnovers. However, the Knights could not withstand the 41-29 rebounding advantage by the Terriers and the 21-12 free throw attempts discrepancy.  

"We have to keep teams off the foul line. This was another game in which we made more field goals than our opponent [24-21] and we have to a better job of shooting the ball in certain situations."

These two teams face one another again on Saturday at 1 p.m. over in Brooklyn, New York. The game can be watched live on NECFrontRow.com.