Monday, January 14, 2002

BOXSCORE

Fairleigh Dickinson Takes Down Long Island, 56-53
Knights now 5-0 in Rothman; hand LIU first NEC loss of season

Hackensack, NJ – The Fairleigh Dickinson (9-5, 4-1 NEC) women’s basketball team defeated the Long Island University (7-7, 4-1 NEC) Blackbirds with a second-half comeback to remain undefeated in the Rothman Center this season at 5-0.  The win also dethrones the first-place Blackbirds who suffered their first NEC loss on the season.

The Knights jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead in the first two minutes on the way to an 11-5 run before the Blackbirds responded with five straight points of their own.  Both teams went without a field goal for almost six minutes before the Blackbirds decidedly shutdown the Knights for 13 straight points to take the 25-14 advantage.  FDU would manage to get within five, 30-25 going into halftime.

Kim Mac Millan (Toms River, NJ), who went 3-for-6 in the first half from behind the arc, opened the second half with her fourth and final three-pointer to start LIU on their 14-5 run to take a big lead of 14 (44-30) at the 16:11 mark.  Tamika Dudley (Woodbridge, VA) paced the run with seven points.

Kyle Schmitz (Herndon, VA) came off the bench for the Knights and hit her first basket at14:36 to begin FDU’s spirited 26-9 run to close out the game.  The Blackbird offense was shutdown from 11:10 to 6:35 and Kanesha Wright (Somerdale, NJ) scored the go-ahead basket for the Knights’ on an assist from Courtney Tierney (Princeton, NJ) to give the Knights back the lead, 51-50.  LIU regained the lead on their next possession for the 52-51 margin when Tierney hit her second three-pointer of the evening at 2:02 to give the Knights the lead for good.  She sealed the win at :39 to go with a layup. The Blackbirds would manage one more free throw before falling, 56-53.

Natallia Marchanka (Rechitsa, Belarus) led the Knights’ with 13 points and six assists.  Schmitz finished with nine points and five rebounds while Tierney scored a season-high eight points.  Wright grabbed a team-high 10 boards.

LIU’s Dudley posted her fourth double-double of the season with a game-high 18 points adding 11 rebounds.  Mac Millan finished with 14 while Johanna DiChiara (Kings Park, NY) dominated the post for a game-high 15 rebounds.

“Every conference win is a huge win but to beat the number one team shows that anyone can beat anyone else,” says head coach Sandy Gordon Gaglioti.  “It’s another confidence builder.  Different players step up in different games and tonight Kyle and Courtney did well on both ends of the floor with some key stops for us defensively.”

The Knights take to the road for two games in Connecticut.  They play Central Connecticut on Saturday, January 19^th for a 5:00pm game and face Quinnipiac on Monday, January 21 at 2:00pm.

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