2013 NEC WBB ROAD TRIP
STOP #3: Pope Physical Education Center, Brooklyn Heights, NY
Saturday, January 19, 2013 - 2pm

Fairleigh Dickinson Knights (8-7, 3-1) at St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers (5-10, 2-2)

Watch on NEC Front Row

SFC Game Notes

FDU Game Notes 

PRE-GAME NOTES

Two teams who are among the handful of surprises through the first four games of the 2013 Northeast Conference schedule are set to collide on Saturday afternoon in Brooklyn Heights, NY, as the St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers play host to the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights. The Knights finished 13-18 last season, and qualified for the playoffs as the number eight seed. FDU hasn’t had a winning overall season since 1993, or a winning conference season since 2004. After a 1-4 start in a rough non-conference schedule, the Knights have won seven of their last nine games and sit at 3-1 in NEC play, good for third place in the latest standings. FDU hasn’t started 4-1 in conference play since 2002. That season they finished 9-9 and were seeded seventh in the NEC tournament. On the other side, the Terriers haven’t been to the playoffs since 2008, and are coming off a season where they won just four games overall. This season, the Terriers have already won five, and sit at 2-2 in conference play, tied with four other teams for fifth place.

ALL-TIME SERIES

Saturday will mark the 59th all-time meeting between the two schools, and the first of two meetings this season. The schools split the series in 2012, each winning on the opposition’s home court. Prior to last February’s, 62-47 Terrier victory, FDU had won the previous six straight. FDU has currently won six of the last eight encounters overall. The teams have also met twice in the NEC Tournament, with St. Francis taking both meetings. First the Terriers came away with a win in the 1995 first round, 73-70, and then again came up winners in the 1997 first round, 82-54. From 1979 to 1993, the Knights had won 21 straight head to head meetings against St. Francis.

THE “EWING THEORY” HITS FDU?

Several years ago Bill Simmons, from ESPN and now editor-in-chief of Grantland.com, popularized what’s been called the “Ewing Theory.” The premise of the Ewing Theory is that when a longtime superstar who’s never won a championship, leaves a team either by injury, trade, free agency (or in this case graduation), and therefore the team is then written off by the media and so called "experts", the team will than play better than when they had the superstar player. The prime example is when Patrick Ewing, of the New York Knicks, tore his Achilles tendon in a first round 1999 playoff series against the top seeded Indiana Pacers. The eighth seeded Knicks went on, without Ewing, to upset Indiana and advance all the way to the NBA Finals. Other examples include: the 2001 Seattle Mariners winning 116 games a year after losing Alex Rodriguez, the 1998 Tennessee Volunteers winning a national football championship a year after Payton Manning left, the 2001 New England Patriots winning the Super Bowl with backup quarterback Tom Brady after Drew Bledsoe was injured earlier in the season, and the 1996 New York Yankees winning the World Series the year after Don Mattingly retired. The NEC’s version of the “Ewing Theory” may be currently taking place.

Mariyah Laury was an absolute fantastic performer and a dynamic scorer all four of the seasons she spent in a Knights uniform. The Orange, NJ native netted 1,923 career points, good for second in the Fairleigh Dickinson all-time scoring record books. With Laury, a four time all-conference performer, now graduated, the Knights obviously had a huge hole to fill going into 2013. Minus Laury, the expectations from those on the outside of the FDU Knights women’s basketball locker room were not set that high, as a tenth place forecast in the pre-season poll suggested. However, to this point, a rebuilding year or any kind of misstep in the absence of their four year scoring superstar has not been in the cards. The Knights are off to their best conference start in over a decade and may challenge for their first winning overall season in almost two decades. Through 15 games, FDU is currently 2 wins better overall, and in conference, than they were a year ago.

So the question is, how exactly are the Knights getting it done? I’ll offer up three suggestions. First, is the play of Danielle Pankey. The Middletown, NJ redshirt junior has become confident and comfortable in the scoring guard role that Laury has had in the past. Pankey has made steady improvement every year since an injury in her freshman year of 2010 forced her to redshirt. In 2011, Pankey returned healthy, led the team with 29 starts, and was on the All-Rookie squad, averaging 9.3 points. Last year, she upped her scoring average to 10.9 points per game. This year, she has taken advantage of her extra opportunities, and currently sits at third in the conference, averaging 16.3 points per night. To compare, last year after 15 games, Laury led the team with a 14.9 scoring average. This means that Pankey is actually outscoring Laury’s output from this point last year by about a point and a half. Over her last 11 games, Pankey is averaging 17.6 points and the Knights have gone 8-3.

Second, has been the outstanding inside presence of Erika Livermore. The sophomore is one of four NEC players averaging a double-double, and has recorded one in 12 of the 15 games this year. Her 12 double-doubles are fourth most in the nation while her 11.9 rebounds per game serve as the sixth best mark in the country. Last year, for much of the season, Livermore would come off the bench. This year, she has been a main focal point, and has created problems for opposing defenses right from the start. Livermore is currently averaging 10 more minutes than she did last season. A scary thought for opponents has been that Livermore continues to grow and improve on the court at such a rapid rate. She has taken home the NEC player of the week award twice already during this young season.

Finally, is the experience factor that the team has built up under head coach Pete Cinella. Besides the loss of Laury, the Knights returned all four other starters, and eight letterwinners overall. Last year the Knights made the playoffs, having to go on the road to battle the eventual champs from Sacred Heart. Despite being the overwhelming underdogs, the Knights gave the Pioneers their biggest scare of last postseason, leading by one with two minutes left in regulation. Even though they would end up falling by four, the experience that this team gained down the stretch of last year shouldn’t be overlooked.

With the core of their team back, in addition to several key newcomers like Torrie Childs and Miah Register, with experience, and with several key players making the most of their added responsibilities/opportunities, it really shouldn’t seem like that much of a surprise that, near the completion of the first third of the conference play, FDU finds itself toward the top of the standings. 

SFC’S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION

On the SFC official athletics website, (www.sfcathletics.com) athletic communications senior assistant Patrick McCormack wrote a fantastic story about former high school, and current Terrier teammates Katie Fox and Leah Fechko. Both players were a part of Twinsburg High’s first division state championship season back in Twinsburg, Ohio. Fox came to St. Francis last year, starting every game. She took on a lot of ballhanding/distributing responsibilities right away, averaging 2.7 points and 2.1 assists per game in 2012. This year, her numbers are about the same at 2.5 and 2.6, respectively. The story goes on to say that it was Fox who helped draw the St. Francis coach’s attention to Fechko by showing them some of Fechko’s high school game tapes. Now officially in the Terrier uniform, Fechko is averaging 3.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. No doubt that bringing in players from winning traditions and championship winning programs, have helped St. Francis take their first few steps in their program’s turnaround. Under first year head coach John Thurston, the Terriers have already surpassed their overall and conference win total from all of last year.

UPSET CITY

Two weeks ago, I was courtside at the Pitt Center to see St. Francis Brooklyn start their conference year off at 1-0, knocking off the reigning champions from Sacred Heart 56-47. Three of the keys to victory in that game are actually areas that the Terriers have excelled at all season long. In the game against Sacred Heart, the Terriers frustrated Pioneer shooters all afternoon. SHU shot just 8 for 30 in the first half (26.7%) and 31.1% from the field for the game. The Pioneers were held to just 47 points, their second lowest scoring output of the season to that point. On the season the Terriers lead the NEC in field goal percentage defense, forcing opponents to shoot just .367, while also featuring the second best scoring defense in the league, allowing just 59.3 points per game.

Against the Pioneers the Terriers also had a significant advantage in depth. Their bench outscored SHU 22-12, with 14 points of those 22 points coming from Jasmin Robinson. On the season, the St. Francis Brooklyn bench is outscoring their opponents 18.7-12.4, on average.

The final X-factor for SFC was the three-ball. The Terriers were able to build up a double digit lead in large part to their hot hand from behind the arc, especially early on against Sacred Heart. The Terriers made six of their first 10 shots from downtown that afternoon. On the season St. Francis is second in the NEC with 104 three’s made and a .364 three point field goal percentage. St. Francis Brooklyn has also recorded at least one three in 217 straight games, a streak dating back to November, 2005.

LAST TIME OUT

Monday night, the Terriers fell at home to Mount St. Mary’s 49-45. St. Francis was held the final 4:58 without a field goal. The game featured five ties and nine lead changes. Mount’s Tara Lonergan provided the game winning basket, while Selina Mann chipped in the clinching free throws in the final seconds. 

After allowing a 17-2 lead to disappear in their prior game, a loss, against the St. Francis University Red Flash, the Knights bounced back with a commanding 80-68 win over Robert Morris in a Monday afternoon matinee at Stratis Arena. The Knights shot a season high 46.7 percent from the field, while also tallying season highs in field goals made, three point field goals, assists, and blocks. FDU held Artemis Spanou, one of the top rebound artists in the nation, in check for most of the game.

AROUND THE NEC

In addition to the Terriers/Knights game, another big game to follow is the battle in Loretto, where the St. Francis Red Flash will square off with the Sacred Heart Pioneers. In a contest featuring the two teams who have hoisted the last three NEC Championship trophies, the Red Flash will look to continue their perfect conference start under Joe Haigh. At the same time, the Pioneers will look to dig themselves out of an early 1-3 hole. With Sacred Heart never having finished lower than third in the NEC standings, a win on the road in Loretto could be the spark they need to climb the ladder back up the ranks. This game will be an early-bird 11:30am start, and televised Saturday morning on FCS and ESPN3. The NEC's top WBB broadcast crew, Paul Dottino and Phyllis Mangina, will be on the call.