DALLAS, Pa. – The FDU-Florham defense was front and center as the top-ranked Devils (6-0, 1-0 Freedom) caused 34 turnovers in an 85-58 rout of Misericordia University (0-6, 0-1 Freedom) in both teams' Freedom Conference opener at the Anderson Center on Wednesday night.

Junior guard Kara Dayon (Trenton, N.J.) paced the Devils' attack with 21 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals in the victory. Eight different Devils recorded a steal in the contest, which is a season-high for the team.

Misericordia jumped out to an early 7-2 lead but the Devils roared back with a 12-4 run to move in front. FDU-Florham would not relinquish that lead for the remainder of the game with Dayon supplying the ammunition. Dayon had it going from downtown in the opening half and drained four 3-pointers, en route to a team-high 16 points.

FDU-Florham's swarming defense caused the Cougars to throw several errant passes as they frantically tried to break the Devils' press. Although the Devils were outrebounded in the first half, and both teams shot 33.3 percent from the floor, FDU-Florham's defense caused 18 turnovers, which allowed them to hoist 12 more shot attempts than the Cougars over the first twenty minutes of action.

The top-ranked Devils took advantage by converting the turnovers into 15 points and led 38-29 at the break.
In the second half, FDU-Florham's defense continued to wear down Misericordia, which resulted in 16 second-half turnovers. The Devils broke the game wide open with a 20-3 run to stake an 80-52 lead with 3:08 to play before ultimately finalizing the 27-point victory.

Freshman guard Sydney Clopton (Baltimore, Md.) came off of the bench and provided a spark for the Devils by netting 10 second-half points. Clopton finished with a career-high 13 tallies in the game on 4-of-9 shooting from the field and the freshman knocked down all five of her free throws.

Leigh-Ann Lively (Bangor, Pa.) and Shalette Brown (Somerset, N.J.) each added 11 points for FDU-Florham in the win as the Devils extended their nation-leading winning streak to 39 straight victories.

For the Cougars, senior guard Lauren Smicherko scored a game-high 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting and added eight rebounds and four assists.

Next up for the Devils:
Following six straight road contests, the Devils will play their first home contest of the season this Saturday, December 6^th against King's College at 1 p.m.