HACKENSACK, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball team begins the 2018-19 campaign Tuesday night with a home game against Rutgers-Newark at 7 p.m.
 
The game will be streamed live on NEC FrontRow and live stats will be available at fduknights.com for those who cannot attend the game in the Rothman Center.
 
'TIS THE SEASON
Fairleigh Dickinson is beginning the 32nd season of women's basketball in program history on Tuesday. The Knights will play 29 regular-season games, including 11 non-conference tilts to start the season before shifting to Northeast Conference action. Fourteen games will be hosted in the Rothman Center in Stratis Arena. Coming into the season, the Knights return nine players from the 2017-18 roster along with head coach Peter Cinella, who begins his 12th season leading the Knights, as well as associate head coach Cathy Inglese.
 
HOME COOKING
The Knights play four of their first five games of the season in the Rothman Center, meaning they won't have to leave the state of New Jersey but for one game until after the week of Thanksgiving. The exception is the Knights' longest road trip of the season to Air Force on Friday, November 16.
 
UPPERCLASSMEN
Ten of the 15 players for the Knights this season are upperclassmen, including four seniors, five juniors and one graduate senior. Seniors Madelynn Comly, Peniel M'Bikata and Natalie Zamora begin their fourth season with the Knights, with senior Lucia Serrano-Ranz beginning her second after transferring last year. Graduate senior Emmanuella Edoka joins the Knights after a four-year run at Siena, and junior Charee Osborne also transferred to FDU for this season from Roxbury Community College. Fellow juniors Courtney Blankenship, Jenna Clark, Lauren Francillon and Elise Graham all start their third campaigns with the Knights.
 
FRESH FACES
The Knights brought in four freshman guards for the 2018-19 season. Freshmen Lindsey Mack, Rachael Niles, Madeline Selvaggi and Makayla Thompson all seek to make their debuts with FDU in Tuesday's game.
 
PRESEASON POLL
FDU was picked to finish ninth in the 2018-19 NEC Preseason Poll announced at the NEC Social Media Day on October 24. Robert Morris was picked first with five first-place ballots, and defending conference champion Saint Francis U was tabbed second with Sacred Heart slotted third.
 
BUILDING BLOCKS
The Knights finished the 2017-18 season with a 15-15 record, going 7-11 in the NEC and finishing in eighth place. The 15 wins were the most for the program since 1993, and the team's eight non-conference wins were the most of any NEC school since 2013. Last season, the Knights led the NEC in team field goal percentage (.408) and ranked second in the league in both scoring defense (63.3 ppg) and field-goal percentage defense (.386). FDU also ranked second in the NEC in blocks per game, averaging 3.9 per contest.
 
LEADING RETURNERS
Comly (10.7 ppg) returns as the Knights' leading scorer, and Francillon is the Knights' leading rebounder (7.7 rpg) and shot blocker (1.8 bpg) from last season. Comly and Zamora each averaged 2.2 apg to lead the team last season, with Zamora dishing out 67 assists to Comly's 65. Zamora also led the Knights in steals (1.2 spg).
 
FREE THROW STREAK
Sophomore forward Madison Stanley also returns for the Knights in 2018-19 and carries into the new season a streak of seven consecutive free throws made. She last season finished a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line and looks to extend that streak this season.
 
SERIES SCORE
FDU leads the all-time series with Rutgers-Newark, 3-0. The Knights defeated the Scarlet Raiders, 76-40, in last season's opener in the Rothman Center and have won by double-digits in each of the three previous meetings. Francillon led the Knights with 15 points and six rebounds in that game, and Comly added 12 points and six rebounds. Before last year, the two teams played in the 1977-78 and 1978-79 seasons, the first two seasons for FDU women's basketball.
 
SCOUTING RUTGERS-NEWARK
The Scarlet Raiders return only six players from a team that finished 7-18 last season and won only two of 18 NJAC games. Senior Faith Ashby, a native of Teaneck, N.J., returns after leading the team in points (16.8 ppg), assists (3.4 apg) and steals (3.8 spg) and earned honorable mention All-NJAC for the second straight year. She is also the returning leader in rebounds (5.9 rpg). The Scarlet Raiders averaged 58.5 points per game and gave up 57.5 points per game last year, shooting .359 from the field as a team and .175 from three-point range.
 
THE MARCH TO 500
FDU women's basketball enters the 2018-19 season with a program record of 496-666, needing only four more wins to reach 500 in program history. A 4-0 start means FDU could be on track to reach its 500th win against NJIT on Tuesday, November 20, at the Rothman Center.