Box Score

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Fairfield University women's basketball team picked up their 20th victory of the season with a 63-51 decision over Canisius College this afternoon at the Koessler Athletic Center.
 
It is the eighth 20-win season in program history and the third during the five-year of tenure of Head Coach Joe Frager. With today's victory, Fairfield (20-7) has also clinched second place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) with a 13-3 record.
 
Junior Brittany MacFarlane and senior Taryn Johnson led the Stags will 12 points apiece. MacFarlane went 4-for-4 from the floor, including 3-for-3 from three-point range. Johnson went 5-for-6 from the floor while grabbing six rounds and coming away with four steals.
 
Junior Katelyn Linney and a senior Desiree Pina added nine points each. Pina also grabbed five rebounds and dished out six assists. Christelle Akon-Akech chipped in with a career-high eight points and a career-high six rebounds.
 
The Stags and the Griffs (12-15; 6-10 MAAC) went basket-for-basket for the first 10 minutes of the opening stanza. Canisius managed to take a 22-16 lead at 7:10 on a three-pointer by Jamie Ruttle but a three-pointer by MacFarlane at 6:54 sparked a 15-0 run for the Stags.
 
Johnson gave Fairfield a 23-22 lead with back-to-back lay-ups while Akon-Akech picked off a pass at the defensive end and took it coast-to-coast for the lay-in. Forty seconds later, Linney made it 28-22 with a three-pointer. Fairfield's run that spanned 4:37 was capped off by a lay-up by Katie Cizynski at the 2:17 mark. Canisius closed the half on 5-0 run but trailed the Stags 31-27 at the break.
 
MacFarlane gave the Stags a 10-point lead, 40-30, in the opening minutes of the second half with back-to-back three-pointers. Junior Laura Vetra put the Stags up by 48-36 at 10:21 with a three-pointer while Johnson made it a 15-point lead after successfully converting a three-point play at 8:54.
 
Canisius cut it to single digits, 55-46, on a long-range three-pointer by Jen Lennox at 6:05. Lennox then cut the deficit to seven points with a pair of free throws at 4:54. Pina returned the lead to 10 points, 58-48, with a three-pointer at 4:28. Fairfield turned up the defensive pressure and controlled the rest of the way for the 61-53 win.
 
Fairfield shot 51.2 percent from the floor and 42.9 percent from three-point range. The Stags had 11 steals on the day.

Fairfield returns home for the first time in three weeks on February 24 when it hosts Loyola University Maryland at 7pm on Senior Night at Alumni Hall. The Stags finish out the 2011-12 regular season on February 26 at Rider University in a game that will be aired live on ESPN3 at 1pm. The 2012 MAAC Basketball Championships will be held March 1-5 at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass.