EMMITSBURG, Md. – After holding a two-point lead at the half, the Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball team (16-8) fell for the first time since February 9 to Mount St. Mary's (16-6) by a 77-62 margin on Wednesday night from Knott Arena in the NEC Tournament Semifinals. FDU only had seven players available for the game and assistant coach
Lauren Holden served as the head coach due to COVID concerns.
Highlights
The seven wins in a row coming into the game marked FDU's longest winning streak since the 1992-93 season when the Knights won nine in a row. The 12 NEC wins were the most since the 1992-93 season when they won 14 NEC games. This year marked the second straight year that FDU has appeared in the NEC Semifinals and was the fourth appearance in program history.
Sophomore
Sierra DeAngelo led the Knights with a career-high 20 points and shot 7-14 from the floor. DeAngelo also connected on four free throws and grabbed six rebounds. Senior
Madison Stanley recorded her fourth double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman
Abby Conklin also netted 11 points and connected one three three-pointers in the game.
Coach Holden's Thoughts
"I'm extremely proud of our players and the effort they gave tonight," said coach Holden following the game. "I think this was a last-minute adjustment we had to make, but I think we grew from this experience, it's not something that's ever easy, but I think we grew from this."
When asked about the team's resilience shown over the past 24 hours, coach Holden stated, "I think this says a lot about our team. To be able to come out here and perform and want to play today and compete says a lot about us. In the future this speaks volumes of the players we have and coming in next year we're going be ready to go because we've dealt with adversity like this."
When asked about the impact Coach Ang has had on her, Holden said, "Coach Ang is an awesome coach and has been doing this for so long. I love learning something new from her every day and she does a great job with what she does. Kind of understanding the system and what she wants I think helps because I played for her for four years and coaching aside her beside her helped."
When asked about the season as a whole, Holden stated, "I would say that we're fighters and I think that a lot of teams went through a lot of adversity this year. I think this was a really hard year and I credit them a lot. I couldn't even imagine what it's like to be a college athlete right now. They're going to come back stronger."
How it Happened
- Mount St. Mary's jumped out to a 9-5 lead with 5:35 to go in the first quarter with the FDU buckets coming on a three-pointer from DeAngelo and a step back jumper from graduate student Elise Graham, but FDU responded with an 8-4 run over the next 2:38 sparked by four more points from DeAngelo and a pair of baskets from both Stanley and freshman Taylor Crystian in what was now a 13-13 game.
- Conklin helped the Knights end the quarter on a 12-0 run by connecting on a three-pointer and a jumper from the corner and DeAngelo made three free throws in that stretch in a quarter in which she scored 10 points and the team shot 57.1 percent from the floor as FDU led 23-13 after one quarter of action.
- Mount St. Mary's opened the second quarter with nine unanswered points over the first 4:12 of action as they only trailed by one point, but Graham ended the Mount run with a runner and a three-pointer off a nice pass from DeAngelo as FDU regained a 28-22 advantage with 4:44 to go in the second.
- After Mount retook a one-point lead, Conklin connected on her second three-pointer of the game off another nice pass from DeAngelo as the Knights regained the lead at 31-29 with 3:08 left in the frame.
- Over the final 3:08 of the second quarter, the teams played even as freshman Devyn Scott then connected on a triple from Stanley, Crystian scored on a nice back door cut and pass from Stanley, and DeAngelo converted a jumper over two Mount defenders at the buzzer to give FDU a 38-36 lead entering the half.
- Mount opened the second half with an 8-0 run and took a 44-38 lead sparked by a three from NEC Player of the Year in senior Kendall Bresee, but Crystian cut the deficit to three with a triple off a nice feed from Scott with 8:12 left in the third quarter.
- After the Mount extended the lead to 13 and went on an 11-0 run over the next 7:07 of the third, Stanley connected on an and-one layup in traffic and DeAngelo buried her second three-pointer of the night to help FDU cut the deficit to 10 points as the Mount led 57-47 after three quarters of play.
- Stanley opened the fourth quarter by backing her way to the hoop and getting back within eight points and Scott connected on a free throw to make it a 57-50 contest with 9:22 to go.
- Mount St. Mary's pushed the lead back up to 11 points, but Crystian made a pair of free throws and Stanley connected on a jumper from the wing to get back within seven points with 7:49 to play.
- Conklin connected on her third three-pointer of the night off a nice pass from Scott with 4:36 remaining to get back within 10 points of the Mount lead in a 67-57 game.
- The Mount however would hold the lead the remainder of the game and earn a spot in the NEC Final with a 77-62 win.
Inside the Box Score
- FDU shot 44.0 percent from the floor and made 22 shots in the game.
- The Knights held Mount St. Mary's to 36.8 percent from the field.
- The Knights dished out 12 assists and scored 20 points in the paint.
- Scott led FDU with five assists in the contest.
- Rebecca Lee led Mount St, Mary's with a double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds.
- Crystian and Graham each scored eight points, the eight points were a season-high for Graham.
