TEANECK, N.J. ? The Monmouth University women's basketball team concluded their 2006-2007 regular season by falling to Fairleigh Dickinson 74-59 at the Stratis Arena at the Rothman Center on Tuesday night. The loss drops the Hawks to 17-12 and 10-8 in the Northeast Conference while FDU improves to 11-17 and 8-10 in the league.

Monmouth finishes the season tied with Quinnipiac and Mount St. Mary's for the fourth seed, but due to tiebreakers will be the fifth seed in the upcoming conference tournament, and will travel to Quinnipiac on Saturday for a 1 p.m. tip in the NEC quarterfinal round.

MU was led by Jennifer Bender (Staten Island, N.Y./Staten Island Tech) who scored 14 points and pulled down eight rebounds, while Marisa Jimenez (Carteret, N.J./Carteret) added 12 points.

FDU scored the game's first 13 points before Nyaimah Ware (Washington, D.C./Dunbar), who started because Brianne Edwards (Bloomfield, Conn./Suffield) missed the game with a knee injury, hit a free-throw line jumper to get MU on the board at the 15:14 mark of the first half. The Knights extended their lead to 18-2 at the 12:05 mark following a Megan Kirkland three-point field goal from the top of the key.

The Hawks cut the lead to 27-16 at the 4:24 mark of the opening half behind back-to-back Jennifer Bender buckets and a Ware lay-up. The Hawks trimmed the Knight lead to 10 at intermission at 36-26 as they were led by Bender's six first half points.

MU cut the Knights' lead to 48-42 following a Jimenez three-point field at the 12:00 mark. FDU's lead ballooned back up to double figures before a Jimenez breakaway lay-up cut the lead to 64-57 at the 4:30, the closet the Hawks' would get all game.

The Hawks return to action on Saturday, March 3 as they travel to Quinnipiac in the quarterfinal round of the Northeast Conference Tournament.