By Ray Floriani (@rfloriani)
TEANECK, N.J. — Just over two weeks ago, FDU put a 33-point beating on visiting LIU. Head coach Stephanie Gaitley knew the type of game Sunday would differ from that of 15 days prior, in fact, it might resemble the January meeting in Brooklyn when the Knights needed a last-second shot to escape with a victory. Coach Neil Harrow’s Sharks had been playing well of late, and this was for the NEC championship.
Sweeping the regular season games is no guarantee it will carry over to the postseason.
“When you get to the tournament, you have to beat a team three times,” Gaitley said. “That is not an easy thing to do.”
In the end, FDU was up to the challenge.
The Knights defended their NEC championship in a convincing 79-57 victory. Sunday’s game at Bogota Savings Bank Center saw FDU improve to 30-4.
The visiting Sharks came out fast, starting the game on an 8-2 run. FDU did not panic.
“They went on a run when we played them at LIU,” sophomore guard and tournament MVP Ava Renninger said. “It was just going back to our foundation and doing what we needed to do. We were going to go on a run of our own.”
The Knights did just that, exploding on a 16-0 spurt that extended into the early portion of the second period. At halftime, FDU led 38-22. The first four minutes following the intermission were even. By the conclusion of the third period, the Knights maintained a 19-point lead.
Complacency was not an issue. FDU kept its foot on the gas, beginning the fourth period by scoring 10 points on its first five possessions.
“The first possession of the fourth was big,” Gaitley said. “They had possession and we turned them over. We broke the game down into eight five-minute games. In the fourth (period). we just had to win two more five-minute games. It’s tied going into the fourth, that’s the mentality we have.”
Five minutes into the final stanza, the FDU lead was 25 points. A few minutes later, both teams substituted as the verdict was not in doubt.
Points of Emphasis
Sharing the wealth: Kadidia Toure led all scorers with 28 points. The LIU standout did not have a wealth of options. She scored 10 of LIU’s 19 field goals.
“Obviously she’s a great player,” FDU’s Kailee McDonald said. “We tried to double her. We know they have shooters. She’s going to get hers, but as long as everybody else was guarded, we would be fine.”
In the first half, the Sharks shot 0-for-6 from beyond the arc. Credit the FDU defense. LIU finished with seven three-pointers, each of which came in the second half when the issue was all but resolved. FDU, conversely, had six double-digit scorers. The Knights also had a very impressive 41-5 edge in bench points. Akeelah Lafleur led the Knights with 15 points. Renninger had 13, Bella Toomey and Reese Downey chipped in with 12 each, while McDonald and Leah Crosby had 11 and 10, respectively.
“We just had different people step up at the right time,” Gaitley said of something that has happened virtually all campaign and has been a big reason for FDU’s success.
Freshman Leah Crosby was not in the program last season. She did know about the special season the Knights had however, and experienced it firsthand on Sunday.
“My mind, I blanked out,” she said. “I was so excited for myself and my team. We’ve worked so hard for this.”
Renninger was the lone returning starter from last year’s team.
“It’s a surreal feeling,” she said. “Obviously we won it last season, but it’s a different feeling every year. It’s still so surreal.”
McDonald came off the bench as a freshman. A year later, she’s now in the starting lineup.
“It’s similar, surreal,” she said. “Obviously we experienced it last year, but this year, we had a different team and different girls.”
And a similar result.
Starting with practices in the heat of summer, there was hardly talk of an undefeated repeat.
“When the summer started and Lilly (Parke) went
down, we had one starter returning,” Gaitley said. “And we’re like, ‘we have one starter returning, it’s going to be different this year.’ We are not going to have the same players nor experience. That’s a credit to different people stepping up. Ava had to take on a new role, Kailee had to step in, we had to be more aggressive offensively. Madlena (Gerke) was a great get for us. She wanted to be part of a family.”
Gerke’s addition not only helped in scoring and defense, but in establishing a great chemistry as well.
“Our freshmen stepped up big time this year,” Gaitley added. “Everybody got better. We got by LIU at LIU and we thought maybe we could do this, but we never talked about it. We just took it game by game.”
Praise for Neil Harrow and LIU: Last season, the Sharks finished 6-24 and 3-14 in NEC play. Neil Harrow arrived and instantly began the turnaround. This season brought an 11-game improvement in NEC contests.
“I want to congratulate Neil and his kids on an incredible year,” Gaitley praised. “They had a lot of kids that went out and we played them to a one-point game. He did a fantastic job creating a winning culture there.”
Harrow set a new record for a first-year head coach at LIU with 21 wins. The previous record was 16 by Tony Bozzella, now at Seton Hall, in 2000-01. Interestingly, his point guard was Angelika Szumilo, the head coach at Iona, formerly at FDU after beginning her coaching career as a Gaitley assistant at Fordham.
Next up: FDU will visit Iowa City to visit the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday. FDU is a 15th seed in the Sacramento region. The Knights are no strangers to Iowa, having played two years ago in their season opener. Iowa, coached by Jan Jensen, is 26-6. The Hawkeyes finished second in the Big Ten with a 15-3 conference record.
“It’s hard,” Gaitley said of the undefeated NEC season. “Everybody is coming at you. You have to bring your best game play at the highest level because you know anyone could beat you any given night.”
Prior to the NCAA Tournament selection show, Renninger commented on the Knights’ prospects.
“I don’t care how big they are or how athletic they are,” she said. “We are the No. 2 defensive team in the nation for a reason. We know how to play against these teams.”
Gaitley mentioned Bella Toomey, who is playing very well of late.
“Bella was 6-for-6,” she said. “Different people playing their best basketball at the right time makes a difference.”
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