The Fairfield University women's basketball team improved to 3-0 on the season with a 77-61 victory over visiting non-conference foe Cornell University at Alumni Hall Friday night. The loss drops the Big Red to 0-3 on the year. The game was the 1,000 game in the Stags varsity history.

Katelyn Linney (Freehold, N.J.) led the Stags in scoring for the second consecutive game, hitting 8-11 from the field, including 5-8 from behind the arc, to finish with 23 points. Taryn Johnson (Brockton, Mass.) had the Stags first double-double of the year, scoring 11 points and recording a game-high 10 rebounds.

A Stephanie Long (Norwich, Conn.) jumper in the paint 4:26 into the game brought the Big Red back to a 9-9 tie, the fourth of the opening minutes of the game. Joelle Nawrocki (Unionville, Conn.) knocked down a three-pointer, off a Linney pass, to put the Stags ahead 12-9, and advantage they would not relinquish.

The Nawrocki three-pointer started a 17-2 run for the Stags that resulted in a 26-11 advantage with 7:21 to play in the half. Six different players scored for Fairfield during the stretch, with five points apiece from Linney and Katie Cizynski (Southbury, Conn.). The Big Red held Fairfield scoreless for over two minutes, while scoring three of its own points, to get within 12 (26-14; 5:14), before the Stags rattled off eight straight points to build a 34-14 edge – the largest lead of the game – with 2:48 remaining in the first-half. Cornell scored the final six points of the half to make its halftime deficit 34-20.

An 8-4 Fairfield run over the first 2:41 of the second half pushed the lead back to 18 points, 42-24, but the Big Red would challenge again. Cornell scored eight straight points, with four coming from Maka Anyanwu (Oakland, Calif.) to get within a dozen points, 47-35, with 13:28 to play. The lead was still 12 points, 53-41, when Desiree Pina (Plainville, Conn.) knocked down a jumper in the paint (9:46) and followed it with her first three pointer of the year (8:16) to give the Stag a 58-41 edge. Cornell would close within 12 points on two other occasions, the last time with 3:27 to play (64-52) but the Stags answered with seven unanswered to put the game out of reach.

Fairfield shot 50.9 percent from the field for the game, 27-53, and 8-16 from behind the arc. The Stags had their best free throw shooting night of the year, hitting 15-18 from the stripe in the game. Fairfield also out-rebounded Cornell, 36-30, but were at a 9-7 deficit on the offensive boards. Cizynski finished the game 4-7 from the field, with a three-pointer and 2-2 at the stripe, for a career-high 11 points.

Johnson added five of the Stags nine steals, and handed out a game-high four assists in the game. Fairfield dished out 17 assists, on 27 field goals. Linney, Pina and Laura Vetra (Riga, Latvia) each had three assists, while Nawrocki added two assists. Vetra finished with eight points and eight rebounds.

The Big Red had four players reach double digits in the game, led by the 16 point effort of Long, who shot 6-10 from the field. Anyanwu finished 6-8 from the field, for 12 points, while Shelby Lyman (Snohomish, Wash.) and Spencer Lane (West Bloomfield, Mich.) both tallied 10 points. Cornell shot 41.4 percent (24-58) from the field for the game, including 15-30 in the second-half.

The Stags close out their four-game season-opening homestand on Monday when they host the University of Rhode Island at 7 p.m.