EMMITSBURG, MD – FDU Women's Basketball picked up a 63-59 victory over Mount St. Mary's on Sunday afternoon. The victory wraps up a 2-0 weekend road trip for the Knights, who previously defeated American on Friday, Nov. 8th.
FDU headed into the game seeking revenge, after dropping their contest against Mount St. Mary's last season by a score of 64-50 at home in Hackensack. The Knights also came in riding momentum off of a historic victory over American on Friday, which was the 700th win in the career of head coach
Stephanie Gaitley.
The Knights jumped out to an early lead, leading 14-10 after the first frame.
Lilly Parke and
Ava Renninger were the first to star on the stat sheet for the Knights, combining for 11 of the Knights' 14 first quarter points. Parke stayed hot heading into the second quarter, immediately hitting a three-pointer to extend the Knight lead. From that point on however, it was the
Kailee McDonald show.
The freshman McDonald was red-hot in the second quarter, hitting four three-pointers in four attempts, and scoring 12 of the 19 FDU points in the frame. The rookie gave the Knights offense a big spark, and gave them a 33-20 lead heading into the halftime break. The Knights remained in control throughout the third quarter, with Parke hitting two more threes to stay hot, and McDonald hitting her fifth in as many tries as the quarter closed.
The Knights would take a 50-33 lead into the fourth quarter and in complete control of the game. However, late into the final stages of the game, Mount St. Mary's woke up, and started to put the pressure on. The Mountaineers would go on an 11-0 run within the final five minutes of regulation to tighten the game up. The Mountaineers pulled to within four points with 1:30 left, before the foul game began between both teams.
Lilly Parke was intentionally put at the line with 28 seconds left, where she converted on a pair to give FDU a 59-53 lead. Mount St. Mary's responded immediately, with Anna LaMaster hitting a three-pointer to cut the Knight lead to just one possession with 16 seconds left.
Deja vu happened for both squads moments later.
Lilly Parke was intentionally fouled and sunk a pair of free throws for FDU, but Mount St. Mary's again converted a three-point bucket to shorten the lead further. It proved to be too little too late for the Mountaineers however, as with under five seconds left,
Abaigeal Babore was fouled, and converted on a pair of free throws to give FDU the 63-59 lead they would ride to victory.
The win moves FDU to 3-0 on the season, their first such start since the 2017-18 campaign.
THE STATS
- Freshman Kailee McDonald had the best game of her early college career, tallying 15 points on 5/5 shooting from beyond the arc.
- McDonald's 5/5 afternoon is the best three-point shooting performance by a Knight so far this season, by both 3PT% (100%) and 3PM (5).
- Lilly Parke led the way in scoring for FDU with a 17 point barrage, featuring three makes from downtown.
- The Knights got 27 points from their bench in the win, with 26 of those points coming from freshmen McDonald (15) and Ava Renninger (11).
- FDU had a highly efficient afternoon at the charity stripe, converting 11 of their 12 chances.
- The Knights shot 37% from deep, their best mark in that category so far this season.
- Ball movement has been key for FDU this season, with 11 of their 21 makes being assisted on in the win.
- FDU has assisted on 58% of their makes so far this season (42/72).
- Renninger has played a significant role off the bench as a freshman for Coach Gaitley. She recorded 30 minutes off the bench in the win, following a 36 minute outing against American.
- The Knights crashed the glass well, out-rebounding Mount St. Mary's 36-28, including a 14-6 margin on the offensive glass.
WHAT'S NEXT
With the road trip over, FDU will now head back home to New Jersey, and play host to the visiting Bucknell Bison on Wednesday, Nov. 13. That game will be at 7:00 p.m. in the Bogota Savings Bank Center in Hackensack, N.J. Coverage will be available live on NEC Front Row.
Connect with FDU Women's Basketball on X and Instagram, @FDUKnightsWBB.
Segovia Steakhouse is the presenting sponsor of the 2024-25 FDU Women's Basketball season.
