HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The 2017-18 season for the Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball starts Friday night at 7 p.m. against Rutgers-Newark at the Rothman Center.
HELPING HOUSTON
There is no charge for admission on Friday night, but both Fairleigh Dickinson and Rutgers are asking for a donation to help the continued Hurricane relief efforts down in Houston, Texas. All donations made on Friday night will benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Houston.
QUICK HITTERS
The Knights open the season at home against DIII Rutgers-Newark. FDU is 63-7 all-time against schools who are currently not DI member institutions.
FDU is the only team in the Northeast Conference that will open its season on its home court. All nine other schools will start the 2017-18 season on the road Friday or Saturday.
Peter Cinella begins his 11th season at the helm of the Knights. Cinella and the Knights seek a fourth straight NEC Tournament berth come March. FDU has not been to four straight NEC Tournaments since going to seven in a row from 1991-98 under Sharon Beverly.
FDU is 2-8 in season openers under Cinella. The two wins came against Bryant to start the 2008-09 season and at Manhattan at the start of the 2014-15 campaign.
SERIES SCORE
Friday will be the third time that Rutgers-Newark and Fairleigh Dickinson have sqaured off. The previous two occasions happened back in the 1977-78 and 78-79 seasons. FDU won both of those encounters, 63-52 and 85-55.
LAST TIME OUT
Fairleigh Dickinson lost to Robert Morris in the NEC Quarterfinals for the third straight season back in March. The eighth-seeded Knights fell 68-35 to the top seed Colonials. FDU's loss ran its NEC Tournament losing streak to 19 games. The Knights have not won a NEC Tournament game since the 1992 tournament final against Mount St. Mary's.
ABOUT RUTGERS-NEWARK
The Scarlet Raiders finished last season at 12-16 overall and 8-10 in NJAC play. In the conference tournament, No. 6 seed Rutgers-Newark made a run to the NJAC Title game where they fell to No. 1 seed Montclair State, 71-61. Faith Ashby is the leading returning scorer and rebounder for the Sacrlet Raiders at 16.1 points and 5.9 rebounds. Autumn Webster and Genesis Bayron are the two other returning starters for Rutgers-Newark.
RETURNING ALL-NEC
Amina Markovic was named Third Team All-NEC a season ago. The rising senior averaged 10 points, seven rebounds and one block per game.
TOP TWO OPTIONS
Markovic and Madelynn Comly return for the Knights in 2017-18 after ranking first and second on the team in scoring in league play. Markovic averaged 12.6 points and Comly tallied 11.8 per league contest a season ago. The Knights are one of two teams who return two players who were in the top 15 in scoring during league play in 2016-17 --- Saint Francis U is the other.
LEAGUE PLAY PRODUCTION
Markovic ranks third among returning players in points per game in NEC play last season (12.6). The rising senior is behind only Jessica Kovatch (SFU, 21.9) and Katherine Haines (SHU, 15.2), and is second among returnees in rebounding (8.1) behind only Haines (10.4).
Madelynn Comly is T1 among returnees in the NEC in free throw percentage during conference play last season at 83.3%. The junior is tied with Jessica Kovatch of SFU. Comly is also sixth among returnees in ppg (11.8) during NEC play last season.
RETURNING PRODUCTION
In 2017-18, the Knights return 62% of its scoring from a year ago. Brianna Thomas and Kiana Brown were the only players who averaged more than three points per game that moved on. The Knights also bring back more than 75% of its rebounding from last season, led by Markovic's 7.0 'boards per game. Blankenship and Francillon were over 4.0 last season.
