HACKENSACK, N.J. – After a long summer and fall, the Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball team (0-0, 0-0 NEC) is ready to get back to action as they travel into Queens to square off against St. John's (0-0, 0-0 Big East) to open their regular season campaign.
Game Info
FDU (0-0, 0-0 NEC) at St. John's (0-0, 0-0 Big East)
Wednesday, November 10 at 7:00 p.m. -- Carnesecca Arena in Queens, New York
Coverage: FloHoops | Live Stats
In-Game Updates: @FDUKnightsWBB
All-Time Series
St. John's leads 5-2
Streak...L4
First Meeting...2/4/81 (FDU 81, St. John's 74)
Last Meeting...11/28/20 (St. John's 70, FDU 44)
Scouting the Red Storm
St. John's enters the season picked to finish seventh in the highly competitive Big East and return a slew of talent from the side that toppled FDU at the Rothman Center last season. Head Coach Joe Tartamella enters his ninth season with the Red Storm and is just five wins away from engraining himself in St. John's history as the winningest head coach in women's basketball history. Junior Leilani Correa leads the way for the Red Storm as she was named to the Preseason All-Big East Team following her stellar sophomore season in which she averaged 17.6 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. The Red Storm also welcome back near-double figure scorer Kadaja Bailey, who averaged 9.8 points, a team-high 5.9 rebounds, and three assists per game. Last season, the Red Storm went 8-15 and 4-12 in the Big East. St. John's also earned a postseason victory as they defeated Xavier in the First Round of the Big East Tournament, before ultimately falling to #1 ranked Connecticut.
Scouting the Knights
The Knights hope to continue the positive momentum of the program as of late under Head Coach Angelika Szumilo. In her third season, Szumilo has already helped guide the Knights to back-to-back NEC Tournament semifinal appearances, and the Knights will be looking to do at least that once again with Szumilo at the helm. The Knights return a host of talent, including eight of the top ten minutes-getters from the 2020-21 roster, led by grad student Madison Stanley. The Preseason All-NEC Team selection led the Knights with 13.5 points and six rebounds per game and finished with the third-most assists on the team with 52. She also led the Knights in blocks with 1.6 and earned a First Team All-NEC selection for her standout senior campaign. The Knights also return a pair of standout sophomores as Chloe Wilson and Devyn Scott both hope to build from the NEC All-Rookie Team honors they earned as freshmen into their second season wearing the Burgundy and Blue of FDU. Wilson averaged 7.2 points and 3.4 rebounds per game while Scott led the team in assists with 63 over the course of the season. The Knights welcome a five-woman freshman class, as well as junior transfer, Dahomée Forgues, into the fold for the season, adding even more depth to a Knights team already loaded with returning talent.
Coach Szumilo's Thoughts
"We've been focusing on ourselves while we're working on stuff that we anticipate St. John's showing on the offensive end from the regular season last year. But, obviously, with the first game of the regular season you don't fully know what to expect. We're just focusing on ourselves and making sure we can control what we can control – which is communicating, playing hard, playing with grit, playing with heart, and just communicating on both ends of the court."
"I think against a team like St. John's who's big and athletic, transition defense is going to be very important along with making sure we do all the little things we are capable of doing."
"[Growth is] what the non-conference schedule is for. We have a challenging out-of-conference schedule, we're a lot of really good teams with postseason experience, and we're hoping to use those games to help us get ready for conference season."
What's Next
The Knights will remain on the road as they travel to Baltimore to square off with Loyola Maryland on Sunday, November 14, at 2 p.m. The match will air live on ESPN+.
