HACKENSACK, N.J. – The Knights (15-4, 7-1) welcomed the Merrimack Warriors (5-14, 3-5) to Stratis Arena Saturday afternoon for Alumni Day. FDU was not a good house guest as they dominated the Warriors 74-53.
Chloe Wilson led the way for the Knights with 16 points and eight rebounds,
Ella Fajardo pitched in 14 points off the bench.
The Knights came out of the gates on fire; they shot 6-for-8 in the first six minutes and were leading the Warriors 14-4 at the media timeout. The FDU defense forced Merrimack to only shoot 2-for-9 to open the game up.
Celia Carbonell and
Chloe Wilson both started strong with five points each. FDU continued to dominate Merrimack for the remainder of the quarter and took a 25-7 lead into the second quarter. The Knights shot 56% from the field while holding the Warriors to only 21%; Wilson led the Knights with nine points.
The second quarter began with a quick 5-0 run from the Warriors, and they continued to take advantage of poor shooting from the Knights. When the second of four media timeouts came, the Warriors were outscoring the Knights 11-5 in the quarter with Amaya Stanton leading the way for them. The Knights finished the half on a 13-5 run and took a 20-point lead into halftime, their defense forced 12 Warrior turnovers and held them to just 31% from the field. Wilson led FDU with 13 points in the half on 4-for-9 shooting.
The second half started slow for both teams; both teams combined 5-for-17 from the field for only 10 points in the first five minutes of play. Wilson and Stanton both led the way for their respective teams. Despite the slow start the Knights proceeded to outscore the Warriors in the quarter and took a 23-point lead into the final 10 minutes of play.
Ella Fajardo had a big quarter scoring seven points and leading the Knights with 14 for the night.
The fourth quarter showed nothing different from the Knights; they smothered Merrimack on the defensive end and drilled three-pointers. A 9-4 run in the first two minutes of play forced Kelly Morrone to call a timeout and talk to her squad.
- The Knights have a week off until they face off against Wagner in a battle for the top seed in the conference. Both teams will be entering the contest with only one loss to their record. The game will take place Saturday, February 4 at the Spiro Sports Center; fans will be able to watch the game on the CBS Sports Network.
