FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball team made a fourth-quarter push to come within four points in the final minute but could not seal the deal in a 68-62 road loss at Sacred Heart Monday night.
 
The Knights (6-16, 3-8 NEC) started the game shooting the ball well from deep, making 50 percent of their three-point tries (5-of-10) but were outscored by four points in each of the opening points. The Pioneers (12-10, 8-3 NEC) later broke the game open with a 12-0 run early in the fourth period, but the Knights did not give in, making a strong push by closing to within three points in the final two minutes.
 
Down by four with under a minute left, junior Lauren Francillon drove for a layup, and while the ball went through the hoop, she was called for an offensive foul that otherwise would have put the Knights within one possession.
 
Four different Knights scored in double figures, led by Francillon with 13 points and seven rebounds to go with three assists. Senior Madelynn Comly netted 12 points and three assists, and senior Peniel M'Bikata contributed 11 points to go with five rebounds and three assists. Sophomore Madison Stanley added 10 points off the bench and grabbed four rebounds.
 
"I'm very proud of the fight we showed cutting into that deficit and have a chance," head coach Peter Cinella said after the game. "If Lauren gets an and-one there, we're trying to cut it to two with under thirty seconds. The team showed a lot of fight. I thought our offensive efficiency was very good, and we forced a lot of turnovers in the second half. Madison Stanley once again was very sharp off the bench, and I liked how we found the open man."
 
The Knights shot 43.6 percent from the field and finished 8-of-21 from downtown. FDU also converted six of seven foul shots (85.7 percent), totaled 14 assists and outrebounded the Pioneers, 32-29, while forcing 17 turnovers on defense.
 
M'Bikata netted the first basket for the Knights with a driving layup, and junior Jenna Clark provided an early 4-2 advantage with a layup of her own. Freshman Lindsey Mack drained her first three-point try to help the Knights keep their lead midway through the opening period, as the Knights defense held the Pioneers to 2-of-8 shooting early on.
 
A Stanley three-pointer stretched the lead to six before the Pioneers answered with two straight layups and two three-pointers to take a 16-12 lead at the end of the first period.
 
Freshman Rachael Niles drained a three-pointer to bring the Knights back within one at the start of the second period, and a Stanley driving layup provided FDU the lead again at 17-16. After a Pioneer three, Francillon answered with a triple of her own, but the Pioneers then scored the next five points to go up 24-20.
 
The Pioneers continued their run with a three-pointer to go up by seven before Stanley stopped the slide with a long two. The deficit grew to as many as 11 before a M'Bikata three-pointer stopped the run and sent the teams to halftime at 33-25.
 
Francillon got the Knights going early in the second half with a turnaround jumper, and senior Natalie Zamora followed with a three-pointer to make it a three-point game. Sacred Heart responded with a three before M'Bikata drove for a strong layup to make it 36-32.
 
Sacred Heart answered again with five straight points before two M'Bikata free throws cut the deficit down to seven. Comly later answered a Pioneer three-pointer with four straight points to make it 44-38. SHU, however, netted the final points of the third period on a layup to enter the final 10 minutes up by eight.
 
Zamora made a tough layup to start the fourth period, but the Pioneers rallied with the next 12 points to go up by double-digits. A M'Bikata layup and a Francillon jumper helped the Knights start a late push of their own, dropping the deficit to eight on a Comly three-point play.
 
Francillon later found a cutting Comly for a layup to make it 60-54, but the Pioneers answered with a jumper to bump the margin back to eight. Francillon again made a nice pass, this time to a cutting Stanley, to help bring the deficit back to six, and Zamora brought the Knights within three on a three-pointer with just under two minutes left.
 
Sacred Heart then sank a jumper and then a layup to go back up by seven with less than a minute remaining. The Knights cut the deficit down to four on a Francillon jumper with 12 seconds left, but the Pioneers drew an offensive foul on Francillon's next shot that would have made it a two-point game and made a pair of free throws at the end to deny the Knights a comeback.
 
"Got to give Sacred Heart credit because they really hit their threes and in a key moment they had some players step up and hit some big threes," Cinella said. "I do like how we defended their ability to get to the basket, and we did a good job of keeping them off the foul line. That [fourth quarter] was one of our better quarters to show that fight and put ourselves in a position where we're a steal or two away from trying to tie that game up."
 
Francillon is now five rebounds shy of 500 for her career, and her next block will be the 100th of her career as well. Comly improved her career point total to 928 in her pursuit of 1,000 career points.
 
Sacred Heart also had four players score in double figures, led by forward Katherine Haines who finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Candice Leatherwood added 19 points and seven assists as well.
 
FDU returns home for its next game, hosting the Saint Francis Red Flash Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. in the Rothman Center.