MORRISTOWN, N.J. - The College of Saint Elizabeth's women's basketball team (0-1, 0-0 NEAC) had a strong fourth quarter rally in its season opener against neighboring FDU-Florham, but it was not enough as the Devils took the opener, 69-67 on Thursday evening.

With the game tied at six early in the first quarter, the Eagles scored five of the next six points to open up an 11-7 lead.  The Devils fought back a few minutes later, going on a 6-0 run to take a 15-14 lead.  Both team went back-and-forth over the final two minutes of the quarter with the Devils taking a 19-17 lead after the first 10 minutes of action.  Freshman Maria DeVincenzo lead the Eagles in the quarter, scoring 7 of the 17 points.

The second quarter saw more back-and-forth action between both teams through the first five minutes with the score tied at 26.  Over the final five minutes, the Devils finished strong, going on an 8-1 run to take its largest lead of the game into halftime, 35-27.

In the third quarter, the Devils grew it lead to 14 with 6:19 remaining.  CSE would not back down however, getting the deficit back to single digits with 4:30 left in the quarter.  FDU ended the quarter on a 12-8 run to take a 58-45 lead into the final 10 minutes.

Despite being down by as much as 13 in the fourth quarter, Kamille Jacobs buried a three-pointer with 5:24 remaining in the contest to get the Eagles within six, its closest deficit of the second half.  With FDU leading 67-57, DeVincenzo knocked down back-to-back three-pointers to get the Eagles within 67-63.  With under a minute remaining, Kaitlyn Racobaldo made a driving layup to get the Eagles within two.  After FDU made a free throw with five seconds remaining to gain a two-point advantage, the Eagles failed to get a shot off in the final seconds as the Devils hung on for the 69-67 win.

In her first career game, DeVincenzo scored 17 points and dished out five assists.  Jacobs added 17 points and five rebounds while Deja Ingram tallied 14 points and 13 rebounds. 

The Eagles return to action on November 17 when it travels to Centenary University for a 1 pm tip.