HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The final weekend of the 2016-17 regular season sees the Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball head west to tackle the Pennsylvania swing at Saint Francis U on Saturday and at Robert Morris on Monday.
QUICK HITTERS
• The Knights will be going to the NEC Tournament for a third straight season. It is the first time since 06-08 that FDU has made three consecutive postseason appearances.
• FDU has played in back-to-back overtime games against NEC foes for the first time since facing Quinnipiac in the NEC Tourny back in 2004 and then SFBK in the first league game of the 2004-05 season.
• FDU closes the season with the top three teams in the standings; first-place Sacred Heart (L, 68-60 ot), third-place Saint Francis U and second-place Robert Morris.
SERIES SCORE
The Knights seek a fourth win in the six meetings with the Red Flash on Saturday afternoon. A win for the Knights would ensure a series split between the two sides this season -- SFU won by three in Hackensack back in December. The magic number seems to be 73 for the Knights in all three wins in the last five meetings; the Knights have scored at least 73 points and allowed less than that to the Red Flash. Each of the last two meetings has been one-possession games.
LAST TIME OUT
Fairleigh Dickinson fell in overtime for the second straight game on Monday night at Sacred Heart. The Knights fell 68-60 to the first-place Pioneers. FDU had the ball for the final minute, but three shots for the win were off the mark. Sacred Heart then outscored FDU 16-8 in the extra five minutes. The Knights did it to within one during the extra session, but Sacred Heart hit a three to get the lead back to four and would not let FDU get any closer. Kiana Brown and Amina Markovic had 12 points apiece to lead the Knights. Lauren Francillon had nine rebound to go along with four points and two blocks. Katherine Haines led three Pioneers in double figures with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
ABOUT SAINT FRANCIS U
The Red Flash enter at 14-13 overall, and 11-5 in NEC play entering the final weekend of the regular season. SFU stopped a three-game losing streak with a win over Central Connecticut 72-70 on Monday. The Red Flash offense is the best in the NEC at 76.3 points per game, 14 more than second-place Robert Morris. Jessica Kovatch is the leader of the attack and the NEC scoring leader at 21.3 points per game. Ace Harrison and Katie Resse average 13 points a game for SFU. Three other players are at over five points per contest. Harrison leads the NEC in rebounding at 8.9 per game.
PLAYOFF POSITIONING
FDU clinched a spot in the postseason despite the loss on Monday night. The Knights can be either the sixth, seventh or eighth seed. FDU moves up to six by winning both games at SFU & RMU and CCSU losing its last two games, which leads to a tie. FDU and CCSU split so its 'best win', which goes to FDU as the Knights would have beaten RMU and CCSU did not. FDU remains in seventh even if it ties SFBK if SHU finishes in front of RMU in any tiebreaker. The easiest way that FDU can slide to eight is go 0-2 this weekend and have SFBK go 2-0.
BONUS BASKETBALL
FDU has played back-to-back overtime games for the first time in program history. This season is the third time in the last six seasons that FDU has played in multiple overtime games. The record for most OT games is four, which was in the 2008-09 season.
NEC RANKS
Scoring offense – 5th (60.5)
Scoring defense – 5th (65.2)
FT percentage - 7th (67.6%)
Field goal percentage – 8th (36.0%)
3FG percentage – 10th (27.2%)
FG% defense – 6th (40.5%)
3FG% defense – 9th (33.7%)
Rebounding offense – 3rd (38.3)
Rebounding margin – 5th (+0.5)
Total Rebounds – 3rd (1,033)
Assists per game – 7th (11.4)
Blocks – 8th (2.6 per game)
Steals per game – 3rd (8.7)
Turnover Margin – 4th (+0.48)
Turnovers per game – 6th (18.4)
Turnovers forced per game - 2nd (18.9)
Assist/Turnover Ratio – 8th (0.62)
