BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball team rode a strong defensive effort and a big second-half run to pick up a 69-52 road victory at LIU Brooklyn Saturday afternoon.
 
The Knights (5-11, 2-3 NEC) led for the majority of the game but really built their advantage late in the third period, going on an 18-0 run over a six-and-a-half minute stretch to go ahead 63-37 with just under seven minutes left in the game. Defensively, FDU forced 26 turnovers from the Blackbirds (1-15, 0-5 NEC) and recorded 14 steals. The Knights held LIU to under 30 percent shooting (14-of-47) for the game and did not allow a field goal in the second period.
 
Four players scored in double figures for the Knights, led by junior Charee Osborne with a season-high 16 points in 14 minutes off the bench. Osborne was 6-of-7 from the floor and also grabbed five rebounds.
 
Junior Lauren Francillon contributed 13 points and seven rebounds, and seniors Peniel M'Bikata and Madelynn Comly each added 11 points. M'Bikata filled the stat sheet with seven rebounds, five assists and three steals, and Comly shot 5-of-6 from the floor while grabbing five rebounds and dishing out two assists.
 
Senior Natalie Zamora also added nine points and three assists. The NEC steals leader recorded a season-high five pilfers as well.
 
"I'm very impressed with the team coming out on the road and doing a great job forcing turnovers, and really liked the scrap, hustle and fight we showed," head coach Peter Cinella said after the game.  "The performance Charee gave was tremendous. She was an absolute monster. It was a good team effort, outrebounding them and forcing 26 turnovers, and I thought our defense did a good job in the press as well."
 
Junior Jenna Clark notched the first points for the Knights after a Blackbird basket to open the game. An M'Bikata layup gave the Knights their first lead, and after a LIU three-pointer, M'Bikata found Clark underneath for a layup to make it 9-7 midway through the opening period.
 
Comly bumped the lead to four on a short jumper, and Osborne finished a scooping layup after an LIU three to maintain the advantage. The Blackbirds, however, responded with four straight points to retake the lead, 14-13, before Zamora drew a foul on a drive into the lane, finishing the layup and the ensuing free throw for a 16-14 Knights lead.
 
The Blackbirds ended the period with two free throws to knot the score at 16 even, but Francillon put the Knights back in front with four straight points to start the second quarter. Osborne added to the lead with a layup, and another Comly jumper kept the Knights up by six later in the period.
 
The advantage stretched to as many as 10 after four straight points from Osborne, and Zamora ended the period beating the buzzer with a last-second layup to make it 35-24 at halftime.
 
LIU opened the second half with four points before a Francillon jumper ended the run. Osborne reached double figures to put the Knights up nine, 39-30, on two free throws, and she later extended the lead to 12 with a three-point play.
 
Comly ended another short LIU run with a layup to make it 45-35, and back-to-back threes from M'Bikata and Comly pushed the advantage to 14 to help spark the Knights' extended run. Two M'Bikata free throws and a Comly fast-break layup helped the Knights end the period on a 10-0 run and with a 55-37 advantage.
 
Francillon stretched the lead to 22 on consecutive jumpers from the elbow and fast-break layups from Zamora and freshman Rachael Niles capped the 18-0 run that helped seal the road win.
 
The Knights shot 43 percent from the floor and made 17-of-23 free throws. FDU held the advantage on the boards, 41-32, and dished out 13 assists as a team.
 
After playing eight of its last 10 games on the road, FDU returns home for a four-game stand starting Monday afternoon against Mount St. Mary's. The game is part of a basketball doubleheader in the Rothman Center on Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, and the women tip-off at 4:30 p.m., following the men's game.