MONTCLAIR, N.J. – The Franklin & Marshall women's basketball team (8-2, 1-1 CC) opened the Mike Scala Memorial Tournament with a 66-49 win over Neumann (2-8) in Monday evening's non-conference contest. F&M jumped ahead in the second quarter by outscoring the Knights, 20-5, in the period as the Diplomats rolled to their eighth win of the season.

Tied 4-4 halfway through the first quarter, Gia Sioutis tipped-in a rebound to put F&M ahead by two. Kayla McCrea drew a foul and knocked down two free throws on the following possession to push the F&M lead to 8-4. From that point, Neumann began an 11-3 run to close the quarter with the Knights in front, 15-11.

F&M started the second quarter fast with a jumper from McCrea and a layup from Lizzie Neville to tie the game at 15-15. Mackenzie Ward followed with a three-pointer and Lauren Rusas connected on a pair of free throws to take a five-point lead. Neumann made a free throw to get within four with 6:02 on the clock. However, the Diplomats scored the next nine points to extend their lead to 29-16. Neumann scored four of the last six points of the period as F&M took a 31-20 advantage into the halftime break.

The Knights worked the deficit to nine with 7:33 remaining in the third quarter. However, that would be as close as Neumann would come to catching the Diplomats on the scoreboard. Rusas splashed a three-pointer to boost the lead to 12. Sioutis and Neville followed with three points at the free throw line to extend F&M's advantage to 39-24. A layup from Ward at the 4:36 mark gave the Diplomats a 17-point lead for the team's largest lead of the contest.

Franklin & Marshall shot 38.3 percent (23-of-60) from the field, 35.0 percent (7-of-20) from beyond the arc, and 76.5 percent (13-of-17) from the free throw line in the game. F&M also outrebounded Neumann, 41-28, in the victory.

Three Diplomats finished with double-digit scoring figures, led by McCrea with 13 points in the win. Fiona Reckner and Ward followed with 10 points each in the contest. Sioutis scored seven points, while grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds. Neville tallied nine points, seven assists, and five steals in the game.

Franklin & Marshall wraps up the Mike Scala Memorial Tournament with a game against SUNY New Paltz on Tuesday at noon.