FDU-Florham would race out to a 16-2 lead in the opening 4:58 behind the play of Emily Cerankowski. Cerankowski scored seven points during the opening run, while Danielle Michlovsky added four tallies.
The Lady Colonels would close the lead to 19-11 on a three-pointer by Lacey Andresen with 12:22 remaining in the stanza. With the Devils holding a 34-25 lead later in the half, Cerankowski knocked down a three-pointer and Maureen Kehoe added a free throw to make it 38-25.
Ashley Makarczyk would answer for Wilkes with two charity tosses to cut the deficit to 38-27. Cerankowski followed with two charity tosses to make it 40-27. After Kelly Patchell scored on an offensive rebound for the Lady Colonels, Kehoe converted a lay-up and Cerankowski drilled a three-pointer to give the Devils their biggest lead of the half, 44-29, with 3:52 remaining in the stanza.
Wilkes would end the half by scoring the final six points to close within 44-35 at intermission. Randi Corbo knocked down two free throws and Nicole Quick followed with a pair of charity tosses to pull the Lady Colonels within 44-33. A Patchell field goal inside with 58 seconds left in the period made it a nine-point game at intermission.
The Lady Colonels would continue their spurt with eight consecutive tallies to begin the second half. Lacey Andresen and Patchell had four points each for Wilkes to help their team close the gap to 44-43 with 15:28 remaining.
FDU-Florham would eventually stretch the lead back to nine points, 57-48, on a pair of free throws by Michlovsky with 8:44 left. Wilkes quickly responded by out-scoring the Devils 9-2 over the next three minutes to move to within 59-57 with 5:51 showing on the clock.
Two free throws by Kate Daly extended the FDU-Florham lead to 61-57. But, Andresen was fouled attempting a three-point field goal and connected on all three charity tosses to make it a 61-60 game with 5:25 left.
Wilkes would take their first lead when Andresen cashed in a three-pointer from the top of the key to give her team a 63-61 lead at the 4:42 mark. Cerankowski would then hit four charity tosses for FDU-Florham on their next two trips down the floor to give the Devils a 65-63 advantage.
Trailing 69-68 with less than two minutes left, Wilkes went inside to Karyn Perestam, who connected from down low to put the Lady Colonels on top for good, 70-69 with 1:22 left. After a missed shot by Cerankowski on the Devils next possession, Andresen was fouled and hit one-of-two from the line to make it 71-69 with 1:07 left.
With 1:01 remaining FDU-Florham had a chance to knot the game when Maureen Kehoe was fouled. However, she was able to hit only one of her two attempts to trim the lead to 71-70. Corbo was fouled for the Lady Colonels with 56 seconds left and calmly sank both free throws to extend the lead to 73-70. Kehoe followed with a driving basket with 47 ticks left to make it a 73-72 lead.
Wilkes would put the game away by hitting all six of their free throw attempts in the last 28 seconds. Corbo hit two, while Nicole Quick was able to cash in all four of her tries to help the Lady Colonels pull away.
FDU-Florham shot an impressive 63.0 (17-27) percent from the field in the first half, but were limited to just 22.6 (7-31) percent shooting in the final 20 minutes. Wilkes, meanwhile, shot only 35.7 (10-28) percent in the first half, but were successful on 41.4 (12-29) of their shots in the second half.
Corbo led four Wilkes players in twin digits with 21 points and six assists. Andresen contributed 19 points and seven rebounds. Makarczyk chipped in with 12 points and three assists, while Patchell added a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Cerankowski had a game-high 26 points, 22 of which came in the first half, to lead FDU-Florham. Michlovsky tallied 16 pints and Kehoe knocked down 14 counters for the Devils.