HACKENSACK, N.J. – Senior Madelynn Comly scored a season-high 22 points and the Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball team shot 46 percent from the field but could not keep pace with a blistering attack from Sacred Heart in an 82-63 home loss.
 
Comly finished the game 9-of-11 from the field and made both of her three-point tries and free throws in reaching her highest point total in a game since netting her career-high of 27 last year against Longwood. She has now scored in double figures in seven straight games, and the senior also moved to within nine points of reaching 1,000 for her career.
 
The Knights (6-20, 3-12 NEC) got off to a slow start but finished the game with 20 points in both quarters of the second half, making 50 percent of their shots from the field and 8-of-10 free throws. The Pioneers (15-11, 11-4 NEC), however, jumped out to an early 12-point lead and then totaled 32 points in the third period while making 6-of-7 threes in the quarter to pull away from the Knights.
 
The Pioneers finished the game shooting 61 percent from the field and 56 percent from three-point range.
 
Senior Natalie Zamora scored 11 points with three assists and three steals for the Knights, and sophomore Madison Stanley notched her sixth straight game in double figures, filling the stat sheet with 10 points, five rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks. Comly grabbed a team-high six rebounds, and junior Lauren Francillon pulled down five boards as well.
 
"You have to give Coach Mannetti and her seniors a lot of credit, they had a very sharp mindset today," head coach Peter Cinella said after the game. "I thought as a team offensively we were much better in the second half, and overall our shooting stats of 46 percent, 33 percent, and 83 percent were solid. We probably had too many turnovers in the first half, and no matter what we did defensively, we didn't have an answer for Sacred Heart's shooting tonight."
 
The Pioneers started the game on a 9-0 run before freshman Lindsey Mack made a three-pointer for FDU's first points of the night. Sacred Heart made three triples before Mack connected on another three, but the Pioneers took a 20-8 advantage into the second period.
 
The Knights then cut the margin down to eight on a Comly layup and kept the margin at eight on a Stanley three-pointer a few minutes later, making it 25-17. The deficit slimmed to as little as seven on a Stanley jumper with 3:41 left in the second period, but the Pioneers answered with six straight points and went into the locker room up 34-23.
 
The hot shooting for Sacred Heart continued in the third period, making five straight threes over a three-minute stretch to go up by 23 and put the Knights out of reach.
 
FDU outrebounded the Pioneers, 26-24, and turned in 12 assists on 23 made field goals. The Pioneers finished with one fewer turnover than the Knights, 16-15, and each team generated seven steals in the game. FDU as a team finished 10-of-12 at the free throw line and made 7-of-21 three-point field goals.
 
The Knights currently sit in a three-way tie with Central Connecticut and LIU Brooklyn for the eighth and final spot in the NEC Tournament with three games remaining. CCSU and LIU face each other on Saturday, while the Knights head to Mount St. Mary's for a 1 p.m. tip-off. FDU then ends the regular season going to CCSU on Monday, March 4, before hosting LIU Brooklyn on Thursday, March 7, at 7 p.m. in the Rothman Center.