NEW YORK – Taryn Johnson (Brockton, Mass.) knocked down both ends of a 1-and-1 to snap a seven minute scoring drought as the Fairfield University women's basketball team defeated Columbia University 50-46 at Levien Gymnasium on Thursday night. The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Stags and improved their non-conference record to 5-3, while the Lions fall to 0-8 on the year.
Brittany MacFarlane (Ontario, Canada) scored the next points of the game over 90 seconds later to extend the Stags lead to 47-43 and Desiree Pina (Plainville, Conn.) hit 3-4 from the line in the final 39 seconds to secure the win. Pina hit 1-2 with 38.5 to play in the game, giving the Stags a 48-43 advantage and Taylor Ward answered with a three-pointer 15 seconds later. That basket snapped an over seven-minute Lion scoring drought and was Columbia's final basket of the game.
Fairfield hit 78.6 percent of its free throw attempts on the day, including 6-8 in the second-half, after entering the game shooting only 58.3 percent over its first seven games of the season. The Stags knocked down 43.9 percent from the field, 18-41, for the game, including three three-pointers. Columbia shot 34.6 percent, and just 7-25 in the second-half, while also hitting three three-pointers. The Lions knocked down 7-9 from the free throw line.
Columbia built its largest lead of the game, 38-32, 5:20 into the second-half on a Kathleen Barry basket. On the Stags next possession Laura Vetra (Riga, Latvia) knocked down an 8-footer from near side. Pina had three of her game-high four during the run, beginning with the next possession, which led to a MacFarlane fast break hoop. The Fairfield run would reach 13 points on a Vetra basket with 11:32 to play, and gave the Stags a five-point advantage, 43-38.
Courtney Bradford ended the Stags run, and scored the Lions next three points, to close the gap to 43-41, a second under the midway point of the half. Neither team would score again until a Melissa Shafer lay-in tied the score with 7:35 to play, and setting up the Stags free throw efforts down the stretch.
Joelle Nawrocki (Unionville, Conn.) and MacFarlane led the way with 10 points apiece. MacFarlane and Johnson each had seven rebounds to lead the Stags. Both teams finished with 31 rebounds in the game, with Columbia holding an 11-6 advantage on the offensive boards. Johnson also blocked three shots, while Nawrocki handed out three assists.
In a first-half that featured eight ties and eight lead changes, Columbia took a 20-18 lead with 6:15 to play in the period on a basket by Lauren Dwyer's third field goal of the evening. The Stags would answer with seven consecutive points in an 81 second span to build a 25-20 (4:54) advantage. Nawrocki scored the first-five points of the run and MacFarlane tallied the final basket.
A pair of Dwyer free throws with 4:35 remaining in the half ended the Stags run, and a 5-0 Columbia spurt that knotted the game 25-25 with just under four minutes to play. Fairfield took its final lead of the half on the next possession, 27-25, but would not score the remainder of the period. Columbia, which had four offensive rebounds in the final 3:14 of the first half, scored the final five points of the half to take a 30-27 lead into the locker room.
The Stags have a 10-day lay-off for final exams, before hosting St. Francis (NY) at Alumni Hall on December 19.
