SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Fairleigh Dickinson women's basketball team (15-7, 11-6 NEC) extended its winning streak to six games and earned a spot in the NEC Tournament with a 53-47 victory against Bryant (7-13, 5-11 NEC) in a defensive oriented game on Thursday night from the Chace Athletic Center. The six wins in a row are FDU's longest since the 2010-11 season when the Knights won six in a row December 6-January 3.

The NEC Tournament berth is the Knights seventh in a row and second straight year they will finish in the top four of the NEC regular season standings. FDU will be the four seed in the NEC Tournament and will play at Mount St. Mary's on Wednesday, March 10 at 7 p.m. in the Semifinals, a matchup that was scheduled to happen last year prior to the college basketball shutdown.

Sophomore Maria Roters led the way by matching a career-high with 22 points on 7-12 from the floor. The sophomore also connected on 7-8 free throws. Freshman Devyn Scott also matched a career-high with nine rebounds and also chipped in seven points. FDU held Bryant to shoot 0-17 from behind the arc, the first time this season they held an opponent to no made three-pointers and the first time since February 15, 2020 against Robert Morris. 

Coach Szumilo's Thoughts
"It was a great team win," stated Coach Szumilo following the win over Bryant. "It wasn't pretty but we gutted it out. Bryant always plays so hard and you have to be ready for them mentally and physically. Maria was exceptional today and provided much needed scoring for us. She actually wanted the ball today!"

"I'm extremely proud of this group. With everything they've had to face this year, I just couldn't be happier for them. Our goal from day 1 of finding out only 4 teams make it to the playoffs and be playing basketball past the regular season. This group along with my coaching staff is very special and works extremely hard and I'm just so happy for them."

How it Happened

• FDU opened the game on a 9-2 run over the first 5:44 of the first quarter led by a pair of free throws and a three-pointer from junior Madeline Selvaggi and two points apiece from Roters and Scott as the Knights held Bryant to 1-11 from the floor (9.1 percent) early in the game.
• Over the final 4:16 of the first stanza, both teams scored four points, with buckets from Scott and senior Madison Stanley in a low scoring quarter in which FDU held Bryant to 15.4 percent from the field and led 13-6.
• Both offenses picked up the pace early in the second quarter in which FDU opened on a 7-4 run over the first 2:20 of action, sparked by a three-pointer from Roters and layups from both freshman Taylor Crystian and junior Lindsey Mack to help FDU possess a 20-10 lead.
• Bryant cut into the FDU lead by scoring eight of the next 12 points as the Bulldogs senior leader Brooke Bjelko netted her first four points of the game in that stretch and trailed 24-18 with 4:33 to go in the second.
• Defense once again became the theme of the game as there was only a combined six points over the final 4:33 of the fame, with the FDU points coming off a nice inbounds play where sophomore Sierra DeAngelo found Roters for a layup as FDU led 26-22 after one half of action.
• Bryant opened the second half with six of the first eight points to tie the game at 28-28, but Roters delivered for the FDU offense to begin the frame as she scored four of the Knights next six points and six of the team's first eight points of the third to push the lead back up to 34-28 with 4:53 remaining in the third.
• Bjelko again led a Bulldog scoring spurt where they scored six of the next eight points to end the period, with FDU's bucket coming on a layup from DeAngelo as FDU possessed a 36-34 advantage entering the fourth quarter.
• FDU held Bryant scoreless over the first 3:29 of the fourth and Roters accounted for the Knights only bucket and freshman Chloe Wilson made a free throw in that period of time as FDU led 39-36 with 6:31 to play before Roters then scored her 17th point of the night with a left-handed layup and pushed the lead to as high as six points with 4:56 to go.
• After Bryant got within two points of the lead, Roters continued to lead the FDU offense as she made a pair of free throws and found Mack for a nice reverse layup to push the lead back to six at 47-41 with 3:10 remaining.
• Roters and sophomore Celia Carbonell put the game on ice with four critical free throws and a crucial three down the stretch and FDU held Bryant to only six points over the final 3:10 of action as FDU came away with a 53-47 win.

Inside the Box Score

• FDU shot 40.0 percent from the floor and connected on 18 shots in the game.
• Tonight marks the fifth time this season that FDU has held an opponent to under 50 points and held Bryant to 35.6 percent from the floor. 
• The Burgundy and Blue were outrebounded by a narrow 34-33 margin.
• The Knights dished out 11 assists and scored 26 points in the paint.
• Bjelko led Bryant with 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds. 
• All nine FDU players that entered the game scored at least one point and four registered at least five points.

What's Next
FDU will conclude the regular season tomorrow night against Bryant on Friday, March 5 at 4:00 p.m. The game can be viewed on NEC Front Row.