For the second straight year, the Fairfield women’s basketball team is heading to the NCAA Tournament after winning the MAAC Conference Championship over Quinnipiac on Saturday, 76-53. As the team prepares to travel to Lexington, Ky. for a first round date with Kansas State University on Friday afternoon (2:30 p.m.), let’s take a look back at how the Stags battled their way through another historic year.
Early Challenges
Facing a difficult non-conference schedule, the Stags dropped two straight games to Richmond and Oklahoma State after their season opening win at Arkansas. Against the Spiders, the team managed to score just seven points in the first half, showing that there was still plenty of room to improve despite the previous year’s successes.
Bittersweet Victory
In arguably their signature win of the season, the Stags erased a 12-point halftime deficit to defeat Big East foe Villanova 74-71 on Dec. 8. The win came at a cost though, as preseason Conference Player of the Year Janelle Brown was lost for the season with a torn ACL sustained in the second half. The injury added to a number of absences the team was forced to navigate through the early part of the season.
Finding a Rhythm
Two months later on Feb. 8, the Stags overcame a pesky performance from crosstown rival Sacred Heart to secure an 82-76 win. Their 13th straight victory to open conference play, the Stags received a huge boost from Raiana Brown, who became the third different Stag to score 30 points in a game with a perfect 11-11 shooting performance.
Regular Season Title
With a 62-49 win over Siena in the final home game of the year, the Stags advanced to 19-0 in conference play and claimed the outright regular season title for the second year in a row.
Atlantic City Glory
After grinding through a pair of scrappy wins in the previous rounds, the Stags turned in one of their best performances of the year in the Conference Championship game, avenging their loss to Quinnipiac a week prior in the regular season finale and punching their ticket to the Big Dance.
