The Fairfield University women's basketball team dropped its regular season finale to Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) foe 60-45 Sunday afternoon at the McCann Recreation Center in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. The loss drops the Stags to 17-12 overall and 10-8 in league play, while the Red Foxes finish the regular season at 27-2 and 18-0 in MAAC play.

Brittany MacFarlane scored a team-best 12 points in the game, shooting 5-8 from the field, with a pair of three-pointers. Taryn Johnson scored 10 points for Fairfield, hitting 4-4 from the free throw line, to go along with a game-high eight rebounds.

Alexys Vazquez, who finished with five points, tied the game 19-19 with a three-pointer with 5:25 remaining before halftime. Marist scored the next nine points, while not allowing the Stags another point to take a 28-19 lead into the intermission.   The Stags, who shot 25 percent from the field in the first half, shot 7-17 over the first 10:02 of action but connected on just 1-15 from that point, with the Vazquez three-pointer the only basket.

Taryn Johnson started the scoring in the second-half and the Stags did not allow Marist a basket for nearly three full minutes to start the period. Corielle Yarde scored the next six Marist points, broken up by a pair of Johnson free throws at the 16:49 mark, to give the Red Foxes a 34-23 advantage. Johnson hit two more free throws at the 15:54 mark to get the Stags back within nine, but Maria Laterza scored on the ensuing Red Fox possession to make the score 36-25. 

After an empty possession for both squads Katelyn Linney drained her first three of the game with 14:44 to play to make the score 36-28. After a defensive stop Johnson drove to the hoop to get Fairfield within six points, 36-30 with 14:12 to play. Yarde and Brittany MacFarlane traded baskets to keep the Stags within six points, 38-32. Linney would hit a 17-footer with 11:53 to play in the half to make the score 40-34, but the Red Foxes rattled off the next five points to push their advantage back to 11 points, 45-34 with 10:30 to play.

MacFarlane ended the run with a jumper from the free throw line after corralling an offensive rebound 26 seconds later to once again get the deficit back to single-digits, 45-36. The Stags got five consecutive stops from that point, but were only able to convert one basket, a Desiree Pina hoop to make the score 45-38. Kate Oliver snapped the drought with a conventional three-point play with 6:46 remaining and after a missed three by the Stags did so again for Marist to push the lead to 51-38. Pina scored with 6:13 to play to stem the tide, but Oliver scored on consecutive possessions to give the Red Foxes a 55-40 advantage.

Marist was led by the 19-point effort of Kate Oliver, who shot 8-11 from the floor on the day. Erica Allenspach scored 11 points while recording seven rebounds and handing out six assists. 

Fairfield will play Siena in the quarterfinals of the 2011 Spark Energy MAAC Championship at Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard. The game will be played at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, March 4 and can be heard live on WVOF 88.5 FM with John Cummings and Maria Conlon calling all the action.