BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball team fought hard on the road but fell short of a comeback in a 68-63 defeat at Long Island University Saturday afternoon.
 
The Knights (5-10, 2-2 NEC) overcame a double-digit deficit at halftime and battled back to take a lead with seven minutes left. The Sharks (2-12, 1-2 NEC) regained the lead, however, and held off the Knights in the closing minutes, sinking free throws in the closing seconds to earn the victory. FDU outscored LIU 52-47 after starting the game making only 5-of-17 field goals in the first period and facing a 10-point deficit.
 
Junior Madison Stanley led the Knights with 21 points, her third 20-point game of the season. Senior Lauren Francillon also reached double figures with 10 points, also securing five rebounds and blocking three shots.
 
Sophomore Rachael Niles dished out a career-high nine assists, the most by a Knight in a game since 2016. She also scored nine points and grabbed five rebounds, and freshman Maria Roters totaled a career-high 12 rebounds to go with five points and five assists.
 
"I thought we did a good job of adjusting at the half and we came out a lot sharper in the second half," head coach Angelika Szumilo said after the game. "It really was about getting defensive stops and that's something we didn't do in the first half. It was really the first half that hurt us. You don't have a second chance to restart the game."
 
Stanley opened the game for FDU with a short jumper and a layup as LIU took an early 7-4 lead. Mack then tied the game with her first three of the game, and after a brief LIU run, the Knights pulled back to within one on a layup by freshman Aniya Bell. The Sharks, however maintained the advantage in the first period, ending the quarter up 21-11.
 
The Knights cut the margin down to seven with a Niles three to make it 23-16, and after a Roters driving layup, Francillon matched LIU with three straight baskets to keep FDU within eight. A nice feed underneath from Roters to freshman Sierra DeAngelo later trimmed the margin down to six, 32-26, but the Sharks pushed the lead back to double digits at halftime.
 
Senior Courtney Blankenship helped FDU start the second half with the first four points, dishing to Stanley and then converting a Stanley pass for her own layup to make it 38-32. Stanley later dropped the margin down to five with a three-pointer, but LIU headed into the fourth quarter with a 51-43 lead.
 
FDU started the final quarter outscoring LIU 11-2, with a three by Stanley cutting the margin down to two before a Celia Carbonell three from the wing gave the Knights a 54-53 lead with less than seven minutes left. The Sharks then retook the lead before Niles converted a tough layup in traffic to make it 58-56 with four minutes left. LIU, however, held the Knights scoreless over the next three minutes and increased its lead to five with a minute to go.
 
After two Niles free throws, the Sharks made three free throws of their own to make it 64-58 with 30 seconds to go. FDU kept pushing toward a comeback, with Mack drawing a foul on a jumper and converting the free throw to drop the margin down to three with five seconds left, but LIU inbounded the ball while drawing a foul and made both ensuing free throws to secure the win.
 
The Knights finished with a 40-35 rebounding advantage, besting the NEC's leading team in rebounding. FDU also totaled 17 assists and only nine turnovers in the game while shooting 39.1 percent from the floor. LIU started the game making 15-of-27 shots in the first half but ended the game with a 42.6 shooting percentage as FDU improved on the defensive end.
 
The Knights return to New Jersey for their next game Monday night at 7 p.m., against Sacred Heart. The game in the Rothman Center will be televised live on SNY, and tickets for the game can be purchased in advance online at fduknights.com/tickets.
 
"Sacred Heart is a very good team and they're very guard oriented, so the adjustment for us for  Monday is keeping them in front of us and not allowing them to do what they want to do, which is push the ball, shoot threes and drive to the basket."