Box Score

In a meeting of two of the top scoring defenses in the nation the Fairfield University women's basketball team dropped a 52-44 decision to Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) foe Manhattan College at Alumni Hall Sunday afternoon.   The loss drops the Stags to 10-6 overall and 3-3 in league play, while the Lady Jaspers improve to 12-5 on the year and 4-2 in conference action.

Fairfield fell behind a dozen points, 34-22 (14:36), and still trailed by 10, 39-29, after a Nadia Peter (Bronx, N.Y.) basket with 9:49 to play. Stags rookie Katie Cizynski (Southbury, Conn.) cut the deficit to eight points with 7:27 to play and Desiree Pina (Plainville, Conn.) drained a three-pointer (6:42) to get the Stags within five points, 39-34. Cizynski, who finished with a team-high 12 points, scored the next six points of the game, with the final hoop coming with 3:49 to play, to complete an 11-0 run and give Fairfield a 40-39 lead.

The lead was short-lived however as 39 seconds later Toni-Ann Lawrence (Elmont, N.Y.) scored in the paint to put the Lady Jaspers into the lead for good. Manhattan outscored Fairfield 13-4 in the final 3:10 of play, including 6-6 at the free throw line in the final 37 seconds of action.

Cizynski, who was 6-6 from the field in the game, finished as the Stags leading scorer, as well as recording six rebounds in her 14 minutes of action. Only three other Stags scored with Pina and Taryn Johnson (Brockton, Mass.) both scoring 11 points and Katelyn Linney (Freehold, N.J.) tallying 10. Johnson had a game-high eight rebounds, seven on the offensive glass, and a team-best two steals. Brittany MacFarlane (Hamilton, Ontario) added eight rebounds as well for the Stags, who finished with a 33-32 edge on the glass.

Fairfield forced a turnover on the opening possession of the second-half that led to a Pina three-pointer and a 25-21 Manhattan lead. The Lady Jaspers scored four straight and nine of the next 10 points to build their largest lead of the game, 34-22, with 14:36 to play in the half. Cizynski scored her first basket of the game, and in the process ended a nearly six-minute Fairfield field goal drought, to start a 7-0 Fairfield run. Linney scored the final five points of the stretch, capped by a three-pointer with 12:08 to play to close the Stags deficit to just five, 34-29. Abby Wentworth (Portland, Maine) knocked down a three-pointer, (11:42) and then nearly two minutes later the Peters basket and the 39-29 lead.

Manhattan received a 19-point effort from Wentworth, who was good on 7-8 free throws in the game, as well as recording six steals. Loutsenhizer was the only other Lady Jasper in double figures, with 13, as Manhattan had just five players' score in the contest. Manhattan finished 10-11 from the stripe, while shooting 38.8 percent from the field.

Fairfield took a 7-6 lead on a three-pointer by Desiree Pina at the 13:17 mark, the Stags first lead of the game. Manhattan retook the lead, 8-7, 1:27 later, and scored six unanswered to go ahead12-7 on a Wentworth basket with 8:19 remaining in the first-half. Linney snapped the Stags scoring drought with a baseline runner 27 seconds later. A pair of Wentworth free throws at the 7:13 mark made the Lady Jaspers lead five (14-9) until back-to-back baskets by Johnson got the Stags within a point, 14-13, with 6:03 to play before the half.

Manhattan would rattle off the next nine points of the game to build a 23-13 advantage. Linney again ended the Stags scoring drought, this one 4:17 long, with a three pointer from the corner with 1:46 to play in the period. Loutsenhizer answered with a basket in the paint for a 25-16 advantage. The Stags closed the halftime deficit to seven points, 25-18, with a hustle play. Fairfield was on the offensive end when a pass was deflected to half court.  Sarah Paulus (Manlius, N.Y.) beat a Manhattan defender to the ball, now at the top of the three-point arc on Fairfield's defensive end of the court. She found Brittany MacFarlane on the far side and fed the ball to Johnson underneath the basket for a score with 1.5 seconds to play in the half.

Fairfield committed 18 turnovers in the game, while handing out 11 assists, led by the five of Joelle Nawrocki (Unionville, Conn.). Manhattan had 15 turnovers and finished the game with 12 steals. The Stags shot 35.8 percent for the game and were a season-low 1-3 at the free throw line.

The Stags continue their three-game homestand on Friday night when they host Canisius College at 7 p.m. The contest is part of the Jesuit Basketball Spotlight.