HACKENSACK, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball team starts a four-game home stand with a matchup against Mount St. Mary's Monday afternoon at 4:30 p.m., part of a basketball doubleheader in the Rothman Center celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr., Day.
 
The game will be streamed live for free on NEC Front Row, and live stats will be provided at fduknights.com.
 
ENTERING THE KNIGHT
The Knights (5-11, 2-3 NEC) picked up a big road NEC victory Saturday afternoon at LIU Brooklyn, capitalizing on a strong defensive effort and a big second-half run. The Knights forced 26 turnovers and recorded 14 steals on defense, holding LIU to under 30 percent shooting for the game. Back-to-back three pointers from seniors Peniel M'Bikata and Madelynn Comly ignited an 18-0 run midway through the third period, helping put the Knights ahead by 26 in the fourth quarter.
 
OSBORNE STEPPING UP
Junior Charee Osborne led the Knights with a season-high of 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting in the win over LIU Brooklyn. Osborne also made 4-of-6 free throws and grabbed five rebounds in 14 minutes coming off the bench. The junior raised her season field-goal percentage to .438 and is fifth on the team with 2.9 rebounds per game.
 
FRANCE-E-ON A ROLL
Junior Lauren Francillon has stepped up her game in NEC play, averaging 16.0 points per game and 10.1 rebounds per game in five conference contests. She is also shooting 55 percent from the floor, 57 percent from three and 91 percent from the free throw line in conference games. Francillon leads the Knights with 10.8 ppg and 6.3 rpg this season and is third in the NEC with a .833 free throw percentage to go with 12 blocks. Over her last eight games, Francillon has averaged 14.3 ppg, 9.3 rpg and 1.0 bpg while shooting 48.8 percent from the floor and 85.7 percent from the charity stripe.
 
FREE THROW PRECISION
The Knights are second in the Northeast Conference with a team free throw percentage of .742. Francillon is third in the league with a .833 free throw percentage, and eight different Knights have made at least 70 percent of their free throw attempts this season. The Knights have made at least 10 free throws in 10 of 16 games this season, shooting above 70 percent as a team in seven of those games. FDU's best performance from the line this season was making 21-of-23 free throws vs. CCSU, with Francillon making all 11 of her attempts in the game.
 
DEFENSIVE MENTALITY
The Knights are one of the best defensive units in the NEC, ranking second in the league in steals per game (9.5) and third in turnover margin (+1.3), points allowed (65.4) and three-point field goal defense (29.4). Senior Natalie Zamora leads the NEC with 2.4 steals per game, recording a career-high of 5 pilfers in the win over LIU Brooklyn. M'Bikata is fifth in the NEC with 1.9 steals per game. FDU also ranks fourth in the NEC in blocks per game, with sophomore Madison Stanley averaging 0.9 blocks per game to lead the team and rank seventh in the conference.
 
500 WINS
Last time the Knights played at home, they made history in their 74-67 victory over CCSU, reaching 500 all-time wins as a program. The team has played in a total of 1,178 games since beginning the program in 1977. FDU has won 216 NEC games over the previous 501 wins.
 
SERIES SCORE
Mount St. Mary's leads the all-time series with Mount St. Mary's, 32-24, having won each of the last five meetings between the two programs. The Mountaineers won both matchups last season by no more than three points. FDU first suffered a 55-52 loss on the road before falling later in the year at home, 55-53. Comly scored nine points in each game, and Francillon grabbed 10 rebounds in the home loss. FDU is 15-11 all-time when playing Mount St. Mary's at home.
 
SCOUTING MOUNT ST. MARY'S
The Mountaineers (7-9, 1-4 NEC) have had a tough start to conference play, losing their first three games before defeating CCSU the previous Monday. In their recent outing, Mount fell on the road to Wagner, giving up a season-high 92 points. Five players scored all but nine of their 76 points in the game, led by Michaela Harrison with 16 points. Senior Juliette Lawless averages 17.9 ppg, 3.3 apg and 1.9 spg to lead the team while shooting .525 from the floor and .409 from beyond the arc. Sophomore Rebecca Lee leads the NEC in field goal percentage (.530) and leads the team with 8.5 rpg and 1.4 bpg. The Mountaineers had the best non-conference record of any NEC team (6-5), picking up wins over Washington College, Towson, Loyola (Md.), Gardner-Webb, UMBC and Radford. Mount was picked to finish fifth in the NEC preseason poll.
 
AROUND THE NEC
Sacred Heart and Robert Morris remain the only two unbeaten teams at 5-0 in conference play, while LIU Brooklyn is the only winless team through five games. FDU sits in a tie for sixth place with Bryant, while St. Francis Brooklyn, Saint Francis U and Wagner all have three NEC wins. Sacred Heart hosts Wagner at home, while Robert Morris goes to CCSU on Monday, with both Brooklyn schools facing off in LIU's gymnasium and SFU traveling to Bryant for the remaining NEC matchups of the day.