HACKENSACK, N.J. - The LIU Brooklyn women's basketball team dominated the first quarter in Stratis Arena Wednesday night, but couldn't hold off the home team, falling to Fairleigh Dickinson, 75-58. With the loss, the Blackbirds stand at 5-14 overall, and 3-5 in Northeast Conference play. LIU and FDU will face off again in three days, Saturday, January 30 in Brooklyn, N.Y. Game time is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. in the Steinberg Wellness Center.

The Blackbirds opened on a strong note. After FDU scored first, LIU answered with an 8-0 run to take the lead, 8-2, just two minutes into the game. The Blackbirds widened the lead from there on a three from junior Brianna Farris, and baskets from senior Jolanna Ford and sophomore Stylz Sanders put LIU up, 16-6. Another three pointer from Farris a minute later gave LIU their widest lead of the game, 19-8 with 4:06 left in the quarter. In the last two minutes of the first quarter, however, FDU went on a 10-2 run that bled into the second quarter and cut LIU's lead to just one point, 24-23.

Early in the second period, Sanders had two straight layups to help put LIU back up, 29-25 at 7:48, and sophomore DeAngelique Waithe and senior Shanice Vaughan helped widen the lead back up to seven points with their back-to-back layups, 36-29 at 4:46. Again, Fairleigh Dickinson would take control later in the period, and the Knights ended the half on a 7-0 run that would tie the score up, 36-36 at half time.

The FDU run continued into the second half, with the Knights coming out of the locker room and scoring eight unanswered points, taking the lead, 44-36 at 7:21. From there, the Knights continued to hold LIU at arm's length, scoring 22 points off of Blackbird turnovers.

In the fourth and final quarter, FDU guard Kelsey Cruz outscored LIU 7-2 in the first three minutes to widen FDU's lead to 64-51. The senior had 12 points in the fourth quarter to help lead the Knights to the win. FDU ended the game on an 11-4 run, using a three-pointer from senior Erika Livermore with 31 seconds left to seal the victory, 75-58.

Junior Brianna Farris led LIU with 16 points and five rebounds, while senior Shanice Vaughan had 13 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore Stylz Sanders had 12 points in the loss, while classmate DeAngelique Waithe had ten. Senior Jolanna Ford led the effort on the boards with nine rebounds, along with seven points.