WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Polona Oberc’s 21 points lifts Women’s Basketball to 64-54 Victory at Fairleigh Dickinson

 

(boxscore)

1/13/05 -- Senior Polona Oberc (Ljubljana, Slovenia) poured in 15 of her game-high 21 points in the second half for Long Island, which won its second straight with a 64-54 Northeast Conference triumph at Fairleigh Dickinson in Hackensack, N.J.

Oberc scored 10 straight points for the Blackbirds (7-7, 3-2 NEC) in the second half. The last of those points came on a 3-pointer that gave LIU a 58-52 lead with 2:13 left and began a game-ending 9-2 run.

After Krissy Suckow missed a layup for the Knights (1-11, 0-4), Oberc committed a turnover that led to a 3-on-1 fast break. Junior Amber Wirth (Hastings, Minn.) gave LIU the momentum back with the contest’s biggest defensive play, taking a charge by Suckow with 1:12 left that wiped out a basket which would have brought FDU within two.

Sophomore Kelli Sawyer (Philadelphia, Pa.) hit two free throws to give the Blackbirds a 60-52 cushion with 1:07 left and, after Jennifer Walkling’s layup for the Knights, added two more with 24 seconds left for a 62-54 contest.

Oberc, who shot 6-of-8 from the field in the second half, hit 9-of-14 for the contest to help the NEC’s leading team in field goal percentage shoot 49 percent (25-of-51) overall. She has averaged 12.4 points over her last nine games.

Wirth scored 12 points with three 3-pointers, becoming the 16th player in school history to reach 800 career points (802).

Sawyer had eight points and eight rebounds despite illness for LIU, which shot 52 percent (13-of-25) in the opening half for a 29-24 lead. It was just the Blackbirds’ second victory in their last eight meetings with the Knights at the Rothman Center.

Suckow scored 12 points and Walkling added 11 off the bench for FDU, which shot 52 percent (12-of-23) in the second half after being held to just 36 percent (11-of-31) in the first half.

LIU returns home Saturday to face Monmouth as part of a doubleheader with the men’s team. Tip-off is at 2:00 pm, followed by the men’s contest at 4:00 pm.