HACKENSACK, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball scored 40 of the first 48 points to open the 2017-18 season with a 76-40 win over Rutgers-Newark on Friday night.
Fairleigh Dickinson (1-0) used a 14-0 run over eight minutes to extend a 10-point lead (16-6) to a 24-point lead (30-6) across the first and second quarters. That followed a 14-2 spurt to start the game for the Knights over the opening seven minutes.
"Good way to start the season," said head coach
Peter Cinella. "Thought we moved the ball well. Happy that we got 19 assists and shot 57 percent. Our [post players] played well tonight."
Three of the nine Knights that scored were in double figures.
Lauren Francillon's scored a career 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting and grabbed six rebounds.
Amina Markovic had 13, and
Madelynn Comly added 12. Comly was a perfect 6-for-6 from the field and grabbed six rebounds.
The 14-0 run that Fairleigh Dickinson brought over from the first quarter propelled the Knights to a 26-point second stanza.
Kamrin Weimer scored six of her nine points, and
Natalie Zamora tallied six of her eight on the night in the second 10 minutes.
Defensively, the Knights held Rutgers Newark (0-1) to eight points in the second quarter on 2-of-12 shooting and forced five turnovers from the Scarlet Raiders. Conversely, the Knights shot 11-of-19 (57%) and had seven assists on the 11 made field goals.
The Knights maintained the lead in the third quarter and built the lead out to as many as 41, 70-29, on a jumper from
Elise Graham with 5:09 left the fourth.
Peniel M'Bikata added nine points. Zamora added eight assists—career high—to go along with her eight points. As a team, the Knights had 19 assists compared to 12 turnovers.
The Knights return to action on Monday night at the Rothman Center against Army West Point. The tip will be at 7 p.m.
"We know Army is a championship level team. They have been the top team in the Patriot League over the last five years. We have to come ready to battle and battle on each possession."
