New Jersey City University Athletics

 

JERSEY CITY, NJ…New Jersey City University nearly rebounded from a 13-point deficit late in the second half with a 13-2 run, but Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham held off the Gothic Knight surge to post a 57-51 non-conference victory, Monday at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center.

 

FDU improves to 5-3 overall with the victory, while NJCU (1-6) dropped its fifth straight game. NJCU’s last four games—all losses—have been decided by eight or fewer points. FDU leads the all-time series, 6-3, with six straight wins between the teams (two missing results, 1976 and 1977). It was the first meeting between the schools since January 8, 1997.

 

FDU was led by junior guard Emily Cerankowski (Easton, PA/Notre Dame) tallied a game-high 15 points (6-19 FG, 0-5 3FG), and added seven rebounds (six defensive) in 37 minutes. Sophomore forward Danielle Michlovsky (Wind Gap, PA/Bethlehem Catholic) collected a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds (nine defensive). She shot 6-of-7 from the floor and had three assists.

 

Sophomore forward Courtney Young (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne) had eight points (4-11 FG), six rebounds and four assists in 29 minutes before fouling out. Also for the Devils, freshman forward Shealyn Taggart (Atlantic Highlands, NJ/Middletown South) had nine points (3-7 FG) and seven rebounds, while senior guard Kate Daly (South River, NJ/South River) added seven points, four steals and three assists in 37 minutes.

 

Junior forward ALAIA ROBINSON (Irvington, NJ/Irvington) had 12 rebounds (nine defensive), eight points (4-5 FG) and three blocks, reaching double digits in rebounds for the sixth consecutive game. New Jersey Athletic Conference leading scorer and freshman guard ANGELA FITZGERALD (Jersey City, NJ/Marist) missed her first seven shots, but contributed to NJCU’s late comeback bid with 12 points (2-12 FG, 8-12 FT), seven rebounds (six defensive), five assists and two steals in 38 minutes.

 

Sophomore point guard CAROLINA GARCIA (Plainfield, NJ/Franklin) finished with 12 points (5-10 FG, 2-4 3FG) in 37 minutes while sophomore guard TANIA GREENLEAF (Bordentown, NJ/Columbia) provided nine points.

 

In an evenly played first half, there were six ties, until FDU went to break ahead by one, 28-27. Michlovsky and Cerankowski each had 11 first half points as the tandem combined for 22 of FDU’s 28 in the period.

 

With FDU still leading by one, 33-32 with 15:00 left, a 9-0 spurt gave the Devils a double-digit, 10-point, 42-32 advantage, with 10:39 left. FDU maintained a double digit effort, and built its largest margin of the game, when it took a 13-point, 51-38 lead after two Taggart foul shots with 7:17 left. Garcia hit a three to cut it to seven but two Daly free throws made it 53-44 with 4:45 left.

 

With 3:45 remaining, Young picked up her fifth foul and NJCU took advantage of the 5-foot-10 forward’s absence, scoring seven straight points over a span of 1:06 to trim the lead to two, 53-51. Fitzgerald made two free throws at 3:45 before Greenleaf drilled a three-pointer (3:12) and a fast-break jumper with 2:39 remaining.

 

But NJCU would not score again and missed its final five shots. Daly converted a fast-break lay-up with 1:52 remaining to make it 55-51 and Cerankowski made two free throws in the final 42 seconds to seal the win.

 

FDU had a 36-20 advantage in scoring in the paint and shot .750 from the line (9-12). The Devils out-rebounded NJCU 41-31 and shot .418 from the floor (23-55). NJCU made 19-of-55 overall (.345). Both schools struggled from three-point range with NJCU shooting 4-of-19 (.211) and FDU just 2-of-10 (.200).

 

NJCU will be back in action on Wednesday, December 5 at 6 p.m. when it hosts St. Joseph’s College-Brooklyn in a non-conference game. FDU is at William Paterson University at the same time.