WNIT Quest Ends in First Round

Fairleigh Dickinson ended the season in the first round of the Women’s NIT, falling 69-53 to host Columbia Friday night.

The Knights, regular-season champions of the Northeast Conference and the tourney runner-up, finished the season with a 24-8 record, the most wins in the program’s history.

Led by 25 points from 5-11 all-Ivy junior guard Abbey Hsu, Columbia improved to 24-5 and will play Fordham in the next round of the tournament.

Junior forward Chloe Wilson scored 22 points to lead the Knights, while senior guard Celia Carbonell added 9 as Columbia took control in the second quarter and was able to protect the lead with a 50-37 advantage in rebounds while forcing 16 turnovers.

The Lions took the lead in the second quarter, hitting five three-pointers, and turned FDU misses into fast-break layups or second-chance buckets in front of a crowd of about 600 in Levien Gymnasium on the Manhattan campus.

FDU head coach Angelika Szumilo and the FDU women’s basketball squad huddle in the last minutes of the WNIT first-round game at Columbia Friday night.