The Fairfield University women's basketball team completed the regular season sweep of Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) foe Saint Peter's Monday night at Alumni Hall with a 63-48 victory. The Stags improve to 17-8 overall and 10-4 in MAAC play, while the Peahens fall to 3-22 on the season and 3-11 in conference action.
Taryn Johnson (Brockton, Mass.) scored the first four points of the game as the Stags opened a 4-0 lead 2:43 into the contest. Teresa Manigrasso ended the Peahens drought 3:08 into the half and started a 10-0 Saint Peter's run, in a 3:43 span, to take a 10-4 advantage. Johnson snapped the Peahen run with a basket at 12:55 and then 82 seconds later hit a pair of free throws to make the Peahen advantage 10-8.
Alexys Vazquez (Berlin, Conn.) knocked down her first three pointer of the game with 11:12 to play before intermission to give the Stags an 11-10 advantage that they would not relinquish. Johnson, who scored 12 of the Stags first 15 points, picked it back up from there, with two more free throws midway in the half and a lay-up in the paint with 9:30 to play for a 15-10 advantage. The Stags, who led by as many as eight points, 24-16 (5:39) in the first-half, took a 29-24 advantage into the locker room at halftime. Johnson would finish the first-half with 14 points, hitting all five of her field goal attempts and going 4-4 at the stripe.
Jynae Judson, who had an 18-point and 14-rebound double-double for the Peahens, scored the first points of the second-half, to close the Stags advantage to 29-26. That would be as close as the Stags allowed the Peahens to get as
Desiree Pina (Plainville, Conn.) scored five points in a 9-2 Fairfield run that built a 38-28 advantage with 13:52 remaining in the game. Saint Peter's would keep the margin within 10 points over the next seven minutes, getting back to within six points for the final time, 48-42, on an Aziza May basket with 6:27 to play. The Stags, behind 9-10 free throw shooting from Johnson and
Katelyn Linney (Freehold, N.J.) put the game out of reach over the next five minutes, building a 61-48 lead with 1:36 to play. The Stags did not allow a Saint Peter's point in the final 1:55 of play.
Johnson finished 7-9 from the floor and 7-10 from the line, for 21 points, to go along with six rebounds and three blocked shots. Linney tallied 15 points, including 8-9 from the stripe, while Pina finished with 11 points and five rebounds.
Brittany MacFarlane (Hamilton, Ontario) added a game-high four assists, a team-best nine rebounds and two points. Vazquez finished with six points on 2-2 shooting from behind the arc.
The Stags connected on 47.8 percent of their field goals for the game, including 11-21 in the second-half of play. Fairfield won the battle of the boards 37-28 and has yet to be outrebounded by a MAAC opponent this season. The Stags committed 14 turnovers, the same number as Saint Peter's, while recording six steals and four blocked shots.
Judson was the only Peahen in double figures on the night as Saint Peter's finished the game shooting 36.5 percent from the floor. The Peahens were good on 72.7 percent, 8-11, of their free throw chances, while the Stags knocked down 16-23, 69.6 percent, from the stripe on the evening.
The Stags will host Loyola University Maryland on Saturday, February 19 at Pack the House Pink presented by SWIM Across the Sound.
