Monday, February 11, 2002

BOXSCORE

Knights Down Central Connecticut, 70-53
Nevin Caple posts third double-double of season

HACKENSACK, NJ – Led by Nevin Caple’s (Baltimore, MD) game- and career-highs of 20 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks, the Fairleigh Dickinson (14-9, 9-5 NEC) women's basketball team easily handled the Central Connecticut (4-19, 4-10 NEC) Blue Devils 70-53 in the Rothman Center. The win brings the Knights’ home record to 10-1 on the season and keeps them in a tie for fourth place in the Northeast Conference.

Central Connecticut had it’s only lead, 5-4 at 16:40 in the first half, when FDU scored 14 unanswered points--capped with a three-pointer from Erin Mills (Wilmington, DE)--from 15:43 to 11:56--to take a 13-point, 18-5 lead.  The Blue Devils would manage to get back within six points, 21-15 with 8:24 to go before halftime but they would get no closer as the Knights ran off a 17-6 streak to end the first half.  After a 17-point (38-21) halftime advantage, FDU had a big-lead of 20 points on three separate occasions in the second session and would not allow Central Connecticut to get closer than 14 points for the remainder.

The Knights out-shot the Blue Devils 53.6% to 30.8% in the first half and 46.2% to 27.5% on the night.  Fairleigh Dickinson also connected on a season-high 90% (18-of-20) at the free throw line.

Caple posted career highs with 20 points and 14 boards—including 10 points and nine rebounds in the first half—for her third double-double of the season.  She also added career-highs with five blocks and three assists. Jennifer Kozlowski (Linwood, PA) had 14 points and five assists for the Knights while Mills finished with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting, including 2-of-3 from behind the arc.

“Playing without Tash [Natallia Marchanka] gave us the opportunity for others to step up and that will only help us down the stretch,” says head coach Sandy Gordon Gaglioti who was without her leading scorer, Natallia Marchanka due to illness. “Nevin did a great job for us tonight, having a huge game on both ends of the floor.”

The Blue Devils were led by Nicole Mercer’s (Newburyport, MA) career-high 12 points while Regina Cunningham (Congers, NY) added 11 and five rebounds.  Natalie Hunte (St. Michael, Barbados) grabbed a team-leading and career-high eight rebounds.

The Knights are next in action on Saturday, February 16^th when they travel to St. Francis (NY) for a 2pm game before returning next Monday the 18^th to host Monmouth at 7pm for their last regular season home game.

*  *  *  KNIGHTS  *  *  *