HACKENSACK, N.J. – FDU women's basketball defeated the visiting Bucknell Bison at home on Wednesday by a score of 67-56. With the win, FDU moves to 4-0 on the season. The Knights' 4-0 start this season is their first such start to a year since the 1991-92 campaign. That season saw the Knights start 8-0 and win a Northeast Conference title.
The Knights' starters dominated in the mid-week affair, with 63 of the team's 67 points coming from the starting five.
Lilly Parke stayed hot for the Knights, and led the way with a 17 point performance. Parke was coming off of a 17 point performance on the road in a win against Mount St. Mary's, and continued her solid play against the Bison. She went 2-for-5 from downtown, and was a perfect 5-for-5 at the charity stripe to help secure the Knights victory.
Abaigeal Babore,
Teneisia Brown, and
Abby Conklin each scored 13 points in the victory. Brown, the reigning NEC Player of the Week, picked up a double-double, tallying 11 rebounds alongside her 13 points. Brown also continued what has been a highly efficient season, going 6-for-12 from the field in the win.
Babore continues to be a stat sheet stuffer for the Knights, tallying six rebounds and three assists alongside her 13 points. Babore dominated at the free throw line, going 8-for-8 on her opportunities. Conklin, who alongside Brown was named to the Preseason All-NEC Team, finally had the breakout performance she was looking for, scoring her points on an efficient 5-for-8 total from the field, including a 3-for-5 night from downtown to lead the Knights from distance.
The Knights started off trailing in the affair, down 13-12 after the first quarter. However, a dominant second quarter allowed Knights to take control of the game. They came alive in the second frame, starting the quarter off on an 11-0 run, and outscoring Bucknell 14-3 across the entire ten minutes. The Knights would ride that momentum into the third, out-scoring the Bison by a score of 21-12 to take a 47-28 lead into the final quarter of action.
Bucknell started to threaten in the final ten minutes, with their offense coming alive and shooting over 50% to tighten the game up. Ultimately, FDU's second and third quarter dominance built enough of a cushion to let the Knights ride to a win with ease.
THE STATS
- FDU moves to 4-0 following the victory. The last time FDU was 4-0 to start the year was the 1991-91 season.
- The Knights were led in scoring by Lilly Parke for the second game in a row. Parke has scored 17 in back-to-back games to improve her scoring total to 10.5 PPG on the season.
- Teneisia Brown picked up her first, and FDU's first double-double of the season, with a 13 point, 11 rebound performance.
- Ava Renninger made her first collegiate start, slotting in at the point guard position and scoring seven points across 30 minutes of action.
- 63 of FDU's 67 points came from starters in the win. Sophomore Staci Williams scored three points, and freshman Joi Johnson scored one as the only bench contributors in the scoring column.
- FDU has been textbook in spreading the ball around on the offensive end. They assisted on 15 of their 22 made shots in the win.
- On the season, FDU has assisted on 57 of 94 made shots (60% of makes).
- The Knights had one of their best shooting nights of the season, converting on a blistering 44.4% of their three-point attempts (8-for-18).
WHAT'S NEXT
As the Knights look to stay undefeated to start the year, they will head into the toughest portion of their non-conference schedule, heading on the road to face two high-major opponents in the coming days. FDU will head to Syracuse to face the Orange on Sunday, Nov. 17, and Storrs, CT to face the current #2 UConn Huskies on Wednesday, Nov. 20.
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.
