Fairleigh Dickinson Knights women's basketball

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Fairleigh Dickinson Knights
women's basketball
Basketball current event.svg 2024–25 Fairleigh Dickinson Knights women's basketball team
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University Fairleigh Dickinson University
Head coach Stephanie Gaitley (2nd season)
Conference Northeast Conference
Location Hackensack, New Jersey
Arena Bogota Savings Bank Center
(capacity: 1,852)
Nickname Knights
ColorsBurgundy and blue [1]
   
Uniforms
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Home
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Away


NCAA tournament appearances
2025
Conference tournament champions
1990, 1992, 2025
Conference regular season champions
1993, 2022, 2023, 2025

The Fairleigh Dickinson Knights women's basketball team represents Fairleigh Dickinson University in women's college basketball. [2] Their colors are burgundy, white, and blue. This mid-major team competes in the Northeast Conference. The Knights host opponents in the Bogota Savings Bank Center, which can seat up to 6,000, [3] in Hackensack, New Jersey.

Contents

History

The Fairleigh Dickinson Knights women's basketball team joined the Northeast Conference of Division I, in their 1988–89 season. Fairleigh Dickinson started play for women's basketball in 1988 with Sharon Beverly as head coach. They won the Northeast Tournament in 1990 and 1992 but as the NEC did not receive an auto-bid to the NCAA Tournament until 1994. After winning a share of the regular season title in the 1992-93 season, the Knights regressed dramatically in the next couple of years, finishing below .500 for the next eight seasons. The Knights did not finish better than 3rd place in the NEC until the 2021-22 season, when they won the regular season championship with a 15-3 record in conference play. [4] They failed to win the NEC Tournament that year after being upset by Bryant in the Semifinals. Despite this, the Knights were invited to their first postseason tournament with the WNIT. They repeated as regular season champion the following year with a 16-3 record but lost 72-60 to Sacred Heart in the NEC Tournament Final. This was the last game for Angelika Szumilo as coach, as she left to coach Iona.

Stephanie Gaitley was hired to coach in 2023. They went 14-17 in her first season and lost in the NEC Semifinals before the team excelled in her second season, which saw them go 16-0 in NEC play while winning the most games for a season in school history with 27. In the 2025 Northeast Conference women's basketball tournament, due to the conference rules about reclassifying teams making the tournament final, the winner between Chicago State and Dickinson would win the NEC auto bid by default (in the semifinal matchup of reclassifying teams, Stonehill defeated Le Moyne). Dickinson won by a score of 90–61 to clinch a bid into the 2025 NCAA Tournament, their first in school history. They then beat Stonehill 66–49 to win the NEC Tournament and extend their school record to 29 wins for a single season.

Yearly records

[4]

Statistics overview
SeasonCoachOverallConferenceStandingPostseason
Sharon Beverly (1988–1999)
1988–89Sharon Beverly 13–1410–65th
1989–90Sharon Beverly 17–139–73rdNEC Tournament Champs
1990–91Sharon Beverly 11–168–87th
1991–92Sharon Beverly 23–613–32ndNEC Tournament Champs
1992–93Sharon Beverly 15–1214–4T–1st
1993–94Sharon Beverly 3–242–1610th
1994–95Sharon Beverly 6–214–149th
1995–96Sharon Beverly 12–158–10T–6th
1996–97Sharon Beverly 13–149–94th
1997–98Sharon Beverly 6–216–107th
1998–99Sharon Beverly 7–196–1410th
Sharon Beverly:126–175 (.419)89–101 (.468)
Sandy Gordon Gaglioti (1988–1999)
1999–2000Sandy Gordon Gaglioti 11–1710–8T–6th
2000–01Sandy Gordon Gaglioti 11–1710–8T–6th
2001–02Sandy Gordon Gaglioti 14–149–9T–7th
2002–03Sandy Gordon Gaglioti 7–206–1210th
2003–04Sandy Gordon Gaglioti 13–1510–85th
2004–05Sandy Gordon Gaglioti 2–251–1711th
2005–06Sandy Gordon Gaglioti 10–186–12T–7th
2006–07Sandy Gordon Gaglioti 11–188–107th
Sandy Gordon Gaglioti:79–144 (.354)60–84 (.417)
Peter Cinella (2007–2019)
2008–09Peter Cinella 13–179–95th
2008–09Peter Cinella 10–209–9T–6th
2009–10Peter Cinella 9–205–1311th
2010–11Peter Cinella 14–167–118th
2011–12Peter Cinella 13–188–108th
2012–13Peter Cinella 12–177–119th
2013–14Peter Cinella 3–262–1610th
2014–15Peter Cinella 10–207–116th
2015–16Peter Cinella 11–218–106th
2016–17Peter Cinella 8–226–12T-7th
2017–18Peter Cinella 15–157–11T-7th
2018–19Peter Cinella 8–225–138th
Peter Cinella:126–234 (.350)80–136 (.370)
Angelika Szumilo (2019–present)
2019–20Angelika Szumilo 12-179-94th
2020–21Angelika Szumilo 16-812-64th
2021–22Angelika Szumilo 19-1215-31st WNIT First Round
2022–23Angelika Szumilo 24–816–31st WNIT First Round
Angelika Szumilo:72–45 (.615)52–21 (.712)
Stephanie Gaitley (2023–present)
2023–24Stephanie Gaitley 14-1711-53rd
2024–25Stephanie Gaitley 27-316-01st
Total:396–581 (.405)

      National champion        Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion        Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion      Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

Postseason results

NCAA Division I

The Knights have appeared in NCAA tournament once.

YearSeedRoundOpponentResult
2025 #15First round#2 TCUTBD

WNIT

The Knights have appeared in the Women's National Invitation Tournament twice. They have a record of 0–2.

YearRoundOpponentResult
2022 First RoundSeton HallL 45–67
2023 First RoundColumbiaL 53–69

References

  1. ↑ "Media Relations". FDUKnights.com. June 6, 2017. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
  2. ↑ "The Official Site of Fairleigh Dickinson University Knights Athletics". Fduknights.com. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Rothman Center - Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU)". View2.fdu.edu. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
  4. 1 2 Fairleigh Dickinson Knights. "Record Book" (PDF). www.fduknights.com. Retrieved 2015-12-28.
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