Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
5-2
Fairleigh Dickinson
2-5
Women's Basketball Drops Road Contest at FDU
December 06, 2014 | Women's Basketball
Army drops to 5-2 after the defeat, while Fairleigh Dickinson improves to 2-5.
Junior Kelsey Minato netted a game-high 18 points for the Black Knights, including a 10-of-11 showing from the free-throw stripe, and added five boards. Classmate Jean Parker chipped in nine points, with all nine coming from three-point range.
Redshirt junior Erika Livermore and junior Kelsey Cruz contributed 14 points apiece for Fairleigh Dickinson, with Livermore adding a game-high nine rebounds. Additionally, freshman Rainey Cox netted 12 points, including a 7-of-9 showing from the foul line.
Both teams struggled to score early on as Army hit two of its first 10 attempts, while Fairleigh Dickinson was 2-of-11 to open the game. The Black Knights found a groove over the next 5:08, hitting 4-of-8 from the field to include six points from Minato. Army shooters were unable to keep up that pace though as they converted just two attempts over the final 8:26 of the opening period.
Fairleigh Dickinson erased an 11-point deficit and found its way back into the game thanks to a 10-2 run over the half's final 5:24. Cox capped the run for the Knights by burying a pair of free throws with 18 ticks remaining to bring the hosts back to within three at the half.
Fairleigh Dickinson took advantage of six first-half fouls from the Black Knights as it shot a perfect 8-for-8 from the foul line in the period. The hosts extended their run to 21-5 to grab a 30-25 lead at the 16:03 mark of the second half, with Livermore netting eight of her team's first 19 points to begin the half.
Parker hit three-pointers at the 18:23 and 13:52 marks to keep the Black Knights within five points, but Fairleigh Dickinson scored six of the game's next eight points to build its lead to 36-28 with 9:57 to play.
Junior Bridget Ryan buried a three pointer with 6:04 left in the second half to knot the game at 40 before Minato converted her third and fourth free throws of the period to cap a 12-4 Army run and put the Black Knights up, 42-40, at the 5:33 mark.
Fairleigh Dickinson scored seven straight points to reclaim a five-point advantage before Minato sank two more free throws with 3:20 left to cut Army's deficit back to three. The hosts responded with three consecutive free throws to stretch their advantage to six, at 50-44, by the 2:00 mark before Cox sank a triple from the right corner at 1:21 to put the Knights up by nine before the hosts held on for the eight-point victory.
Army returns home to face St. Francis Brooklyn on Monday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m.
GAME NOTES: Army falls to 9-4 all-time versus Fairleigh Dickinson … Kelsey Minato scored 18 points to reach double digits for the 56th straight game ... with her 18-point effort, Minato reached 1,274 career points and surpassed Army Hall of Famer Julie Del Giorno (USMA '86) for eighth on the team's scoring list … Jordan Elliott appeared in the starting five for the first time this season, and for the second time in her career as she filled in for the injured Brianna Johnson … Elliott's previous start came during the 2012-13 season.
