Saturday, February 9, 2002

BOXSCORE

FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON DOMINATES QUINNIPIAC, 81-68
Knights' hot shooting and rebounding too much for Braves

HACKENSACK, NJ – Natallia Marchanka (Rechitsa, Belarus) had 24 points and Kanesha Wright (Somerdale, NJ) posted her second double-double of the season with 12 points and a career-high tying 10 boards to lead the Fairleigh Dickinson (13-9, 8-5 NEC) women's basketball team to an easy 81-68 victory over the visiting Quinnipiac Braves (9-13, 6-8 NEC).  The win brings the Knights to 9-1 in the Rothman Center this season and puts them in a three-way tie for fourth place in the Northeast Conference.

Fairleigh Dickinson’s defense forced seven turnovers in the first five minutes, allowing just one three-point field goal in that span as the Knights opened a 10-3 lead.  Quinnipiac got their only lead of the game after a 12-4 run with points from five different players put them up 15-14 with 11:25 to go in the first.  The Knights would allow just one more field goal over the remainder of the session and went on to score 28 more points including seven from Nevin Caple (Baltimore, MD) and five from Marchanka as the Braves missed their last 11 shot attempts of the half.

The Knights’ 18-point halftime lead jumped to 21 points, 45-24 when Amanda Budkus (Clinton, Conn.) hit her first career three-pointer at 19:50.  Fairleigh Dickinson would remain at least that far ahead for all but the last two minutes of the game, owning a big lead of 30 points, 76-46 with 7:06 to go.  Quinnipiac was beyond recovery until five consecutive FDU turnovers in the last two minutes helped the Braves get within the game-ending 13-point margin.

The Knights crashed the boards for their largest rebounding margin of the season--45-25--including a 26-10 first-half advantage. They also out-shot the Braves 51.5% to 26.1% in the first half and 59.2% to 41.2% in the second.

Marchanka led all scorers on 6-of-12 shooting adding a 9-of-12 night at the line.  She dished out eight assists with just one turnover in 36 minutes.  Wright scored her 12 points shooting 6-of-7 from the field while Caple finished with nine points and seven rebounds. Budkus earned her first collegiate start, playing in a career-high 25 minutes with seven points and two rebounds.

Quinnipiac had three players in double-digits led by Ashlee Kelly’s (Pittsburg, PA) 17 points in 16 minutes off the bench.  Helen Ridley (Lynn, Mass.) had a career-high 13 points while Sara Esidore (Portland, Conn.) added 10. 

The Knights return to the Rothman Center on Monday, February 11^th when they face Central Connecticut at 7:00pm.

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