STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball sophomore Rachael Niles sank a game-winning basket with 11 seconds left as the Knights knocked off Wagner 62-61 on the road Monday night.
 
Trailing by one with 15 seconds left to play, Niles collected an inbounds pass at the top of the key and drove left before floating the ball up and through the hoop with 11 ticks left on the scoreboard. The Knights (8-13, 5-5 NEC) then buckled down on defense and denied the Seahawks (7-13, 3-6 NEC) in the closing seconds, with freshman Maria Roters pulling down the final defensive rebound to secure the victory.
 
FDU had maintained a lead through the majority of the game after going on a 9-0 run to close out the first half up 35-30. Wagner's only lead of the second half came on a basket by Alex Cowan with 29 seconds left, setting up Niles' winning shot on FDU's next possession.
 
"I think this is a huge confidence boost for us," head coach Angelika Szumilo said after the game. "We're playing with a lot of underclassmen, so for them to come out with a win, it's huge for their confidence and for the future."
 
Freshman Aniya Bell for the second straight game led the Knights with 14 points, going 5-of-6 from the field and making 4-of-5 free throws to go with five rebounds. Bell has now made 12 of her last 17 field goals in three days, matching her season-high point total in back-to-back games.
 
Freshman Maria Roters also only missed one shot, finishing 6-of-7 from the field, and recorded her first career double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds to go with three assists. The freshman made each of her first six shots she attempted and grabbed a team-best five offensive rebounds.
 
"Maria when she does all the little things, I really do believe she can average a double-double," Szumilo said. "I thought she did a great job today of being active, got her hands on a lot of the misses and a lot of offensive rebounds. She was in the right spots a lot, and I think that resulted in a double-double."
 
Senior Lauren Francillon also filled the stat sheet with 12 points, five rebounds, four assists, three blocks and two steals. Niles finished with eight points and five rebounds, making two three-pointers to go along with her game-winning bucket.
 
Roters made two layups off Francillon assists to get FDU started offensively, and the Spaniard later converted a steal into a fast-break layup opportunity to put the Knights up 8-7 in the first six minutes. Wagner then gained the lead on two free throws and kept the advantage deep into the second quarter, but FDU never let the margin grow past four points.
 
Trailing 30-26 with 1:45 left until halftime, the Knights chipped away at the deficit with two Celia Carbonell free throws, and Bell then tied the game with a short jumper in the lane on their next possession. Niles then provided FDU its first lead since the first period with a three-pointer, and Bell grew the lead by picking off a Wagner pass and driving to the basket for a buzzer-beating layup to make it 35-30.
 
The Knights continued to stretch their lead to as large as eight in the third period on a Francillon jumper that made it 50-42. Wagner, however, chipped away at the FDU lead before tying the game with the first two points of the fourth quarter.
 
Francillon then drew a foul on a made layup and sank the free throw for the "and-one" to make it 53-50, and sophomore Lindsey Mack added to the Knights' lead with a big three-pointer to make it 58-52 with 5:31 left.
 
The Seahawks countered with a three of their own and, after two Bell free throws, they scored the next six points to go up 61-60. Niles took a three on FDU's next possession but it bounced off as Carbonell grabbed a big offensive rebound that allowed the Knights to call timeout and set up the winning play.
 
FDU finished the game making 38.7 percent of its shots overall and 9-of-12 free throws. Both teams pulled in 40 rebounds, but the Knights dished out 16 assists and blocked six shots in the game, including two by Mack and one from Bell as well as Francillon's three rejections. FDU is now 8-2 in games this season when reaching at least 14 assists as a team in a game.
 
Emilija Krista Grava led the Seahawks with 24 points and nine rebounds and made 11-of-22 shots, but the rest of the Seahawks team only converted 11-of-38 field goals (28.9 percent) in the game. FDU held Wagner to just 3-of-12 from three-point range, but the Seahawks did make 14-of-15 free throw tries.
 
The Knights return home to the Rothman Center for their next game on Monday, February 10, against Merrimack, which tips off at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased in advance online at fduknights.com/tickets.
 
"We're going to get our rest and certainly focus on ourselves and the things we need to get better at," Szumilo said. "Taking care of the ball, making good decisions, and we'll get ready for Merrimack."