Fairleigh Dickinson, making its first Women's NCAA Tournament appearance, is ready to face powerhouse TCU
March Madness is upon us, and one local team is experiencing it for the first time.
The Fairleigh Dickinson University women's team will make its initial appearance in the NCAA Tournament, thanks to a very long winning streak.
The 15th-seeded Knights (29-3) will take on No. 2 TCU (31-3) in the opening round of the Fort Worth Region on Friday at 3:30 p.m. in Fort Worth, Texas.
"It's March Madness. Anything can happen"
"It's like everything I could have dreamed of and more," guard Abby Babore said.
Babore, a graduate student guard, said the goal isn't to just be satisfied with making school history by qualifying for the tournament; it's to win.
"It's March Madness. Anything can happen. It's when shots that shouldn't go in do go in, when the smallest team has the biggest upset, and it's just so exciting. I'm really excited to do it with this team," Babore said.
Sure, basketball is fun, but center Teneisia Brown says winning at this level will mean taking care of the fundamentals.
"You know, doing what we do, playing FDU basketball, FDU defense, just not going outside of what we usually do and just play our game. You know, might be an upset, might not. We would love an upset, though," Brown said.
TCU is the real deal
The Knights are riding a 22-game winning streak heading into the tournament, which included an NEC Tournament championship. The hope is to keep that streak alive against a TCU squad that is currently ranked 6th in the country and is fresh off winning the Big 12 Tournament championship.
"Hey, we don't want the ride to end, right? Obviously, you have to put a really good streak together to not end it, and we're playing an unbelievable team in TCU. They're really well-coached. They've got a lot of talent. But at this point, you just lace 'em up and leave it out there," head coach Stephanie Gaitley said.
Gaitley added that being the underdog means respecting all, but fearing none.
