Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – The Fairfield University women's basketball team pulled out an exciting 55-52 victory over LaSalle University this afternoon at Tom Gola Arena. The Stags, winners of four-straight improve to 7-3 on the season.
 
Fairfield had three Stags in double digits on the day. Junior Katelyn Linney finished with a game-high 19 points, which included five three-pointers. Senior Taryn Johnson had her third double-double of the season with 10 points and tied a season-high with 11 rebounds. Senior Desiree Pina tallied 11 points.
 
LaSalle (3-9) had looks at the basket at the onset of the game but could not convert, going 0–for-14 from the field to start. Fairfield, meanwhile, pushed out to a 9-0 lead, including six-straight points from Linney. LaSalle finally got on the board on an Alexis Scott jumper with seven minutes gone by. Linney gave the Stags a 25-9 advantage with back-to-back three pointers with just over six minutes left to play in the half. The Explorers out-scored Fairfield, 9-5, in the final minutes of the half but went into the break down by a margin of 30-18.
 
In the second half, LaSalle's offense came alive paced by double-digit efforts by three Explorers. Brittany Wilson had 12 of her 15 total points in the second frame while Nadia Duncan posted 10 points and Scott had 11 points in the second stanza.
 
LaSalle went on a 10-2 run over the first five minutes of the second half to pull within 32-28. Fairfield answered with a 6-2 run over its own, capped off by a Linney three-pointer at 12:37 which made the score 38-30.
 
LaSalle whittled away at the Fairfield lead over the next 10 minutes, pulling within 48-47 on a pair of free throws by Scott. After a free throw by Pina, Wilson hit a pair of free throws at 1:20 to make the score 50-49. Pina countered with a jumper to make it a three-point game with 38 ticks left on the clock.
 
Johnson hit a pair of free throws with nine seconds left to give the Stags a 54-49 advantage but the Explorers' Michea Bryan hit a three-pointer with 1.1 seconds remaining to keep LaSalle in the game. Fairfield, however, was able to hold them off to come away with a 55-52 win.
 
Fairfield returns to action on December 29 when it travels to No. 2 University of Connecticut at 7:30pm. The Stags open Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) play and the New Year on January 2 when it hosts Iona College at 7pm in Alumni Hall.