Box Score
Teaneck, N.J. – Junior Ebony Davis scored a career-high 26 points and pulled down 14 rebounds, helping the LIU Brooklyn women's basketball team to a stirring, come-from-behind victory over Fairleigh Dickinson on Monday evening. With the win, LIU secures the No. 6 seed in the Northeast Conference tournament and will play No. 3 Monmouth on Saturday, March 3 at 4:00 p.m.
After a layup by FDU's Erika Livermore put the Knights ahead 65-58 with 2:44 to go, senior Kiara Evans began the comeback with free throws to put the score at 65-60 with 2:30 remaining. On the ensuing possession, senior Ashley Palmer tracked down a loose ball and in one motion gained control of it and tossed a perfect pass to sophomore Cleandra Roberts to cut FDU's lead to three with 2:02 to go.
Two free throws from the Knights' Danielle Pankey re-upped the home team's lead to 67-62 with 1:48 left, but the Blackbirds were undeterred. Palmer missed on a short jumper on the next offensive possession, but tracked down her own miss and tied up an FDU player. The possession arrow favored the Blackbirds, and on the inbounds play Davis scored a tough layup as she was fouled with 1:22 remaining.
The St. Louis, Mo. native, who went a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity stripe, finished the old-fashioned three-point play to bring the Blackbirds to within 67-65.
FDU's Mariyah Laury, who came into the contest averaging over 17 points a game, missed on a running jumper on the Knights' next possession. Junior Krystal Wells, who stands at 5-5, made a tremendous box out of FDU center Esther Wallace and grabbed the board. Wells missed on a three-point attempt, but Davis grabbed the offensive rebound and scored on the putback chance to knot the game up at 67-67.
After a Wallace missed three-pointer gave the ball back to the Blackbirds with under a minute remaining, Palmer and Roberts teamed up again on the fast break to pull the visitors in front for the first time since midway through the period, 69-67, with 24 seconds to go.
Fairleigh Dickinson called timeout to set up a play, but the Blackbirds played good defense and Evans came up with a steal and was fouled with 9.5 seconds to go. Evans knocked down one of her two shots from the line to put the score at 70-67.
With one last chance, the Knights pushed upcourt but LIU was able to trap Laury near midcourt. Davis took advantage of the opportunity, snatching the ball out of her hands and held on to the ball until the buzzer sounded as the Blackbirds came up with the improbable win.
LIU blitzed Fairleigh Dickinson to start the game, sprinting ahead to a 16-4 lead just six minutes and 20 seconds into the contest. Davis led the charge with eight points in the run, and concluded the half with a team-best 10 points and seven rebounds.
Pankey keyed an 11-0 run for the Knights that got them back in the ballgame, scoring five straight points midway through the period to give Fairleigh Dickinson a 21-19 lead with 7:17 left in the half. Palmer matched her counterpart with five straight of her own to give the Blackbirds back the lead at 26-23, before the Knights fought back to tie the contest before halftime at 28-28.
Behind the play of Amanda Andrades, FDU was able to take the lead early in the second half. Andrades knocked down consecutive three-pointers and made a nifty feed on a fast break to Laury to put the score at 55-49 with 7:17 left. A layup from Wallace gave the Knights their largest lead of the game with just over seven minutes to go, before the Blackbirds began their comeback charge.
For the game, LIU outrebounded the Knights 38-29, marking the 24th time this season that the Blackbirds have had the advantage on the boards. With eight rebounds on the night, Palmer is just three shy of becoming the second player in NEC history to have scored 2,000 points and grabbed 1,000 rebounds in a career (Jess Zinoble, Saint Francis (Pa.)). Palmer added 19 points to push her career total to 2,026.
Laury finished with a team-high 15 points, while Andrades had 11 points and six assists without turning the ball over in 31 minutes of action.