HACKENSACK, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball team turned in a big defensive effort and capitalized on a late 12-2 fourth-quarter run in defeating Bryant by a score of 63-53 Monday night in the Rothman Center.
 
The Knights (6-13, 3-5 NEC), who led by seven at halftime, witnessed the Bulldogs (6-13, 4-4 NEC) take a two-point lead, 49-47, with seven minutes left in the game. Two possessions later, senior Peniel M'Bikata made a layup off a pass inside from junior Lauren Francillon and drew a foul, which sparked the FDU rally.
 
FDU's defense made stops on each of the next six Bryant possessions in helping the home team go up 56-49 with less than two minutes to go. After a Bryant layup, the Knights scored the next five points to take a 10-point lead with less than a minute left and seal the home victory.
 
Senior Natalie Zamora led the Knights with 13 points, making 3-of-5 field goals and all seven of her free throw attempts. She also corralled five rebounds, recorded four steals and dished out three assists.
 
M'Bikata recorded her first career double-double, finishing with 12 points and a career-best 10 rebounds, making 6-of-7 free throws as well. Francillon and senior Madelynn Comly each contributed nine points, with Francillion pulling down five rebounds as well. Sophomore Madison Stanley tied her career-high with nine rebounds while also scoring four points and blocking two shots.
 
The Knights controlled the boards with a 42-33 advantage on rebounds and forced 13 Bryant turnovers while collecting eight steals and blocking four shots.
 
"Very happy that we were able to handle a little bit of adversity," head coach Peter Cinella said after the game. "Overall, the team effort on the boards was tremendous, and our defensive focus and intensity was all-out. To have Penny grab 10 rebounds from the wing and Madison Stanley nine rebounds, that's the kind of effort we needed and they were able to give it to us. Controlling the ball also helped our defense because we weren't in a lot of transition situations."
 
A back-and-forth start to the game saw the Knights eventually take a four-point lead on a Comly three-pointer, and junior Jenna Clark sank her own three from the wing on the next Knights possession to make it 12-5.
 
Bryant battled back to go up 16-12 at the end of the period, but the Knights answered with five straight points to start the second quarter. Freshman Lindsey Mack got it going with a three-pointer, and junior Elise Graham provided the Knights the 17-16 advantage after making two free throws.
 
The Bulldogs regained the lead on their next possession before a steal from Zamora led to a fast-break layup and a foul, with Zamora sinking the free throw to put her team up 20-18. Stanley increased the advantage to four with a jumper, but Bryant then brought the margin back down to one before FDU ended the period on a 6-0 run to take a 30-23 lead into halftime.
 
Francillon netted four points out of the break to provide FDU a double-digit advantage, 34-23, and the margin stayed at 11 after a Comly layup with 2:45 left in the period. Bryant, however, finished the quarter with five straight points and hit a three-pointer to start the fourth quarter, making it 42-39.
 
Clark answered with a jumper on FDU's next possession before a Bryant layup drew a foul, with the free throw cutting the margin down to two. Junior Charee Osborne then converted a layup off a feed from Clark, and a M'Bikata free throw later put the Knights back up by five, 47-42.
 
Bryant then rallied back with seven straight points to force an FDU timeout. Two possessions later, M'Bikata provided the Knights the lead for good with her three-point play to make it 50-49 with six minutes left.
 
Four free throws sandwiched a tough jump shot make by Graham to provide the Knights an eight-point cushion before the next Bryant basket. Francillon quickly answered with a layup and then stole the ball on Bryant's next possession with under a minute left. The Knights made five of six free throws down the stretch to help close out the game and the 10-point win.
 
FDU held Bryant to 34 percent shooting and a 5-of-18 night from beyond the arc (.278). The Knights sank 18-of-21 free throws (.857) as a team and dished out 10 assists while shooting .382 from the field, making five of eight field goals (.625) in the fourth period alone.

Bryant was led offensively by Sydney Holloway, who finished with a game-high 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting while also totaling eight rebounds, four below her NEC-leading season average.
 
The Knights close out their four-game home stand on Saturday when Robert Morris, who remains unbeaten in NEC play so far this season at 8-0, comes to the Rothman Center for a 2 p.m., contest.
 
"This is a confidence boost to our team," Cinella added. "We know how good Robert Morris is, but we feel like if we can play with this type of intensity and improve on that, then we're going to have a great game here."