STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. --
Madelynn Comly poured in 20 points--17 after halftime--, and
Amina Markovic had 19 to get the Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball team past Wagner 74-64 on Saturday afternoon.
Fairleigh Dickinson (9-5, 1-2 NEC) shared the ball all afternoon and shot 52-percent from the field. The Knights had 17 assists on 26 made field goals and hit 43-percent of their 3-point attempts.
Head coach
Peter Cinella said postgame, "We know how difficult it is to win on the road. Wagner played a very solid game. Amina and Maddie were tremendous today. They hit big shot after big shot. I was pleased that we dramatically cut down our turnovers and brought back up our assists. Today was probably our most efficient game on offense."
The Knights got a layup from
Peniel M'Bikata in the final seconds of the second quarter to take a two-point lead into the locker room. In the third, the Knights would outscore Wagner 20-10 to put themselves out in front; where they would remain for the duration of the third and fourth quarters.
Comly hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the third to restore the Knights' advantage to two possessions after Wagner (3-11, 1-2 NEC) had cut it to a two-point game at 41-39 at the 6:32 mark of the third.
Comly's second triple started an 8-0 run by the Knights to bring the lead to 10 points, 49-39, with 4:21 to play in the third.
The Knights' lead would get as large as 12 in the third before the Seahawks used 6-0 and 5-0 runs to eventually cut the lead to four with four minutes left in the game.
Fairleigh Dickinson went on to score 12 of the final 18 points of the game over the remaining four minutes to get its first NEC win of the season.
Markovic keyed the Knights' offense in the early going as the Knights went 6-for-6 to start the game. The senior, who also grabbed eight rebounds, had nine of her 19 in the first 10 minutes. M'Bikata was also in double figures with 11. Comly added four rebounds, four assists, and two steals.
Morgan Lenahan led all scorers with 23 points. Sierra Clark added 17 points--10 coming at the free throw line--for Wagner.
Defensively, the Knights held Wagner to 23-percent shooting from behind the arc and forced 16 turnovers. Wagner shot 42-percent from the field for the game, but only 30-percent in the third and fourth quarters.
The Knights are on the road once again on Monday night when they travel to Mount St. Mary's for a 7 o'clock start down in Emmitsburg, Maryland. The game can be watched live on necfrontrow.com.
