Monday, February 18, 2002

BOXSCORE

Monmouth Hands Knights Second Home Loss, 65-44
Fairleigh Dickinson's poor shooting puts damper on senior day

HACKENSACK, NJ - The Fairleigh Dickinson University (14-11, 9-7 NEC) dropped a 65-44 decision to visiting Monmouth (15-10, 10-6 NEC) in the Rothman Center.  The loss is just the Knights’ second home loss of the season and comes on senior night to give the Knights a regular season 10-2 record in Hackensack this year.  It also drops FDU into a tie for fifth place in the NEC standings. 

After FDU opened with a three-pointer from Jennifer Kozlowski (Linwood, PA), Monmouth scored seven straight points for the 7-3 lead at 16:44 in the first half.  As the teams traded baskets Fairleigh Dickinson got four points from Natallia Marchanka (Rechitsa, Belarus) and was down by five, 7-12 at 14:29.  The Hawks then rattled off 10 unanswered points, four each from Michelle Cappadona (Atlantic Highlands, NJ) and Rashawnah French (Newark, NJ) to go up 22-7 with 9:18 remaining before halftime. The Knights outscored the Hawks 15-9 for the rest of the first session with nine more points from Marchanka to get within nine points, 22-31 at intermission. 

Fairleigh Dickinson moved within four points, 33-37, on two made free throws from Meaghan Allan (Millersville, MD) with 12:43 to go but would not get any closer.  The Knights struggled offensively as the Hawks put together another seven-point run to move their lead back into double-digits where it would stay for the remainder. Monmouth closed on a 15-5 run over the last 6:33 of the game to seal their victory. 

The Knights shot their second lowest field goal percentage of the season (25.8%) compared to Monmouth’s 40.3% for the game.

Marchanka led the Knights in scoring for the 16^th time this season, tonight with 13 points, adding five rebounds and three assists.  Kozlowski finished with seven points while Nevin Caple (Baltimore, MD) hauled down a game-high 11 rebounds for FDU. Seniors Lauryn Ruby (Landisville, PA) and Zain Conteh (Bronx, NY) were honored before the start of the contest.  Ruby scored four points while Conteh connected on the last attempt of the game for two points.

Four Hawks scored in double figures led by Cappadona’s 16 points and nine assists.  She added eight rebounds.  French posted the game’s only double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.  Jewonda Bright (Norfolk, VA) and LaSheena Martin (Sewell, NJ) scored 14 and 10, respectively.

The Knights complete the regular season with a swing of the Pennsylvania NEC schools, facing St. Francis (PA) on Thursday, February 21 at 7pm and Robert Morris on Saturday, February 23 at 2pm.

*  *  *  KNIGHTS  *  *  *