HACKENSACK, N.J. ? The Monmouth University women's basketball used a balanced scoring attack and stifling defense to defeat in-state Northeast Conference rival Fairleigh Dickinson, 60-40 on Monday afternoon at the Rothman Center. The Hawks, winners of three straight in conference play, improve to 8-9 and 3-4 in the league with the win while the Knights fall to 4-12 and 3-4 in the NEC.
Monmouth took a 10-8 lead with 14:17 left in the first half and did not relinquished its advantage, which would grow to as many as 22 points with 33 seconds left in the game, from that point on.
Freshman Alexis Canady (Forestville, Md./Bishop McNamara) gave MU an early one-point lead after beating the shot clock with a left wing three-pointer, but FDU's Alyssa Mayrose responded with a lay in to give the Knights an 8-7 lead with 14:43 left in the first half. After Canady hit her second three of the game's first six minutes, fellow freshman Alexis Scott (Somerset, N.J./Franklin) hit a straight-away triple and a pull-up jumper to give the Hawks a 15-8 lead with 11:50 to go before halftime.
A Marisa Jimenez (Carteret, N.J./Carteret) jumper from just below the foul line maintained MU's lead at 17-10 with 8:34 to go in the half. After a deflection and steal, Canady keyed a fast break, finding senior LaKia Barber (Clinton, Md. /Gwynn Park) for the transition layup and drilled her third three of the first half on the subsequent possession to give the Hawks a 25-16 lead with 5:12 left.
Senior Jennifer Bender (Staten Island, N.Y./Staten Island Tech) hit her first three of the season, and the third of her career, to give Monmouth a 30-17 lead with 90 seconds left in the first half. Jimenez ended the half when she stole the ball from FDU's Nasim Ahmadzadeh under Monmouth's basket and converted a lay in to give the Hawks a 34-19 halftime lead. Monmouth connected on 46.4% of its shots in the first half, including a season-high five three-pointers (5-9), while dishing out eight assists compared to six turnovers. The Hawks limited Fairleigh Dickinson to 30.4% shooting in the opening half as well. Canady led Monmouth with nine first half points while Scott added eight and three rebounds. Barber scored six points and pulled down four boards while Bender added five points.
After FDU cut Monmouth's lead to 11, Barber converted a traditional three-point play to boost the Hawks' advantage to 41-25 with 12:55 left in the game. MU's lead stayed in double-figures over the next five minutes with freshman Taylor Smith (Plantation, Fla./American Heritage) scoring in the paint to make it 47-32 with just over eight minutes left in the game. Smith drilled a right elbow jumper to push Monmouth's lead to 21 at 56-35 with 3:45 left in the game.
MU was led by Scott's 14 points, six rebounds and two steals. She was joined in double-figures by Barber, who scored 11 points and collected six rebounds. Bender just missed out on her fourth double-double of the season with nine points and nine rebounds and Canady added nine points on three triples. Jimenez chipped in with seven points and Smith tied her career-high with six points. Monmouth shot 46.2% for the game and outrebounded FDU by a 35-27 margin. The Hawks logged 13 assists compared to 14 turnovers and turned FDU's 15 turnovers into 20 points in the game. The Knights shot 32% from the floor in the game and were led by Mayrose's 11 points.
Monmouth returns to action on Saturday, January 24 when it visits Mount St. Mary's for a 3:00 pm tip in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
