The Fairfield University women's basketball team plays the middle game of a three-game homestand when it hosts Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) foe Canisius College at Alumni Hall Friday at 7 p.m. The Stags, who have lost three straight games, are 10-6 on the year and 3-3 in MAAC play, while the Griffs are 6-11 overall and 2-4 in league play, having snapped a three-game losing streak in their last outing.

John Cummings and Maria Conlon will have the call of all the action live on WVOF 88.5 FM and on-line. They also provide the commentary for those fans that subscribe to the video webstream.  Fans can also follow the action via Livestats.

Tonight's game marks the Stags third contest in the Jesuit Basketball Spotlight, a nationwide effort to capitalize on basketball games between Jesuit schools and, through the games, bring greater positive awareness and exposure to Jesuit education and its shared mission. Fairfield is 1-1 in JBS games this season after winning at Canisius on January 2 falling to Loyola on January 14.

Fairfield and Canisius are meeting for the 49th time with the Stags holding a 27-21 advantage. The Stags have now won three consecutive games over the Griffs, including a 60-51 victory at the Koessler Athletic Center on January 2 in the MAAC season opener. The two squads have alternated two game win streaks over the last eight games, Fairfield owns the longest win streak in the series, eight games from January 14, 2000 through January 17, 2003. Canisius' longest win streak is six games, from February 14, 2004 through March 3, 2006.

The Stags continue to rank among the nation's elite in several defensive categories. Fairfield finished the week (through January 16) second in the country in scoring defense, allowing only 48.4 points per game. West Virginia continues to lead the country in the category, giving up 48.3 points per game. The Stags are holding opponents to a field-goal percentage of 34.3 percent.

Canisius erased a nine-point deficit, 31-22, and tied the January 2 meeting 38-38,before Laura Vetra scored eight consecutive points, over a nearly four minute stretch, to propel the Stags to a 60-51 victory in Buffalo, N.Y. One of three Stags in double-figures, Vetra finished with 10 points on 4-6 shooting. Katelyn Linney knocked down 4-8 from behind the arc to score a game-high 19 points, while Desiree Pina added 11 points. Taryn Johnson, 12, and Brittany MacFarlane, 11, led the Stags to a 40-36 rebounding advantage in the game. Joelle Nawrocki handed out a game-high five assists. Canisius shot nearly 41 percent from the floor for the game, while the Stags hit just 30 percent of their field goal attempts. The Stags forced 19 Canisius turnovers, leading to 18 points, while committing a season-low equaling eight turnovers of their own.

Katie Cizynski played only 14 minutes on Sunday against Manhattan, but they were effective minutes. She played the final 14 minutes of the game and hit all six shots she took to tally a career-best 12 points. She also corralled a career-best six rebounds in the effort. It marks her second double-digit scoring effort, 11 versus Cornell, and snapped a three-game personal scoring drought. Cizynski, who is shooting 47.7 percent from the floor, is now averaging 3.5 points per game and 1.9 rebounds.

MacFarlane has pulled down 33 rebounds over the last three games, with a career-high 13 at Siena, to raise her season average to 5.5 per game, which is second on the team and 11th in the conference. In the six games against MAAC opponents MacFarlane is averaging a team-best 9.3 boards, a number that is good for second in the league.

Johnson enters today's game shooting a league-best 52.9 percent from the floor in league play. Making that more impressive is the fact that over the first two league games she shot just 4-14 (28.6%) from the field. She countered that with an 8-10 effort against Iona and has shot 62.2 percent (23-37) from the floor in the last four games. Johnson is averaging 14 points a game during the last four games, with a career-high 22 in the win over Iona and 19 at Loyola. She has recorded six steals in the last two games and a team-best 36 steals on the year. Johnson has recorded 27 rebounds in the last four games and is third in the MAAC at 8.1 caroms a contest.

Nawrocki continues to find her teammates in scoring situations, handing out five assists against Manhattan. She has 24 assists in league play, which ranks her second in the conference, while her 1.8 assist-to-turnover ratio is third in league play. Nawrocki has handed out five or more assists in in three of the team's six league games, with six assists in the win at Niagara. She is second on the team for the year with 40 assists, and is seventh in the MAAC at 2.5 assists per game.

The Griffs snapped a three-game losing streak with a 60-48 win over Siena at home on Sunday and are now 2-4 in league play and are 6-11 on the season. Canisius is averaging 52.9 points per game this season, by shooting 35.5 percent from the field and 29.8 percent from behind the arc. Opponents are shooting 37 percent from the field, 31 percent from downtown, to average 62.8 points per game. Ashley Durham is the only Griff averaging double-figures, scoring 11.4 a game, though Jen Morabito is adding 9.6 points a game. Courtney VandeBovenkamp, the reigning MAAC Rookie of the Week, is the team's leader on the boards, pulling in 5.2 per game. Five different Griffs, led by the 36 of Micayla Drysdale, have dished out 21 or more assists thus far on the year.