Box Score

The Fairfield University women's basketball team rallied from a nine-point second-half deficit, but could not find the go-ahead basket in a 54-52 loss to Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) host Loyola University Maryland. The loss drops the Stags to 10-5 overall and 3-2 in league play, while the Greyhounds improve to 7-9 on the year and 4-1 in MAAC action.

Loyola led by as many as nine points twice in the second-half and led 39-30 with 12:34 to play. Fairfield began to chip away at the deficit and tied the game 48-48 with 3:51 to play in regulation. After a Miriam McKenzie basket on the Greyhounds next possession, Taryn Johnson (Brockton, Mass.) tied the game for the sixth and final time, 50-50, with 2:57 remaining. McKenzie knocked down a pair of free throws with 2:31 to play to put the Greyhounds ahead for good, 52-50. Loyola pushed the advantage to four points on a basket by Erica DiClemente with 45 seconds remaining.

Desiree Pina (Plainville, Conn.) got Fairfield back within a possession with a jumper just outside the key 10 seconds later. The Stags forced a turnover by Loyola on the next possession, but did not convert on the offensive side. The Greyhounds missed their only free throw of the game with 15 seconds to play and committed their sixth team foul of the second-half to force a Fairfield in-bound with eight seconds to play.   Pina was able to get to the rim in traffic but her final attempt kicked off of the rim and out of bounds as time expired.

Johnson led the Stags in scoring with a 19-point effort, to go along with five rebounds and four steals. Pina also finished in double figures with 11 points, while Katelyn Linney (Freehold, N.J.) scored all 10 of her points in the second-half. Brittany MacFarlane (Hamilton, Ontario) collected a game-high 12 rebounds, as the Stags finished with a 32-30 edge on the glass.

Fairfield finished the game shooting 38.6 percent from the field, hitting 22-57, and knocking down 4-15 from behind the arc. The Stags were 4-10 at the free throw line, while Loyola hit their first seven free throws, all in the second-half, and ended the game 7-8. The Greyhounds shot 46.8 percent from the field for the game, 22-47, and were 3-11 behind the arc. The Stags had 15 turnovers, to the Greyhounds 16, while Loyola recorded an additional steal, 11-10.

Loyola received a 17-point effort from Katie Sheahin who also had a team-high six rebounds. McKenzie finished with 14 points and six boards, while DiClemente tallied 12 points and handed out three assists.

In the first-half a Sheahin three-pointer gave the Greyhounds an 11-9 advantage 8:25 into the contest. Fairfield scored the next six points, with baskets from Taryn Johnson, Laura Vetra and Desiree Pina to take a 15-11 edge just under two minutes later. That would be the Stags last made field goal for over eight minutes as Loyola went on a 9-1 run to take a 20-16 lead with 2:15 to play in the half. Johnson snapped the Stags drought with a jumper with 103 seconds to play in the period, as the Stag finished the half with a 5-2 run, going to the break trailing 22-21.

The Stags are back in action on Sunday afternoon when they host Manhattan College at 1 p.m. in Alumni Hall.