WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J.  – Some days your shots just don't fall. The Stags created their own chances on both ends of the floor, but the ball just didn't go down for the Stags as they fell to Monmouth 59-33 on the road. Fairfield limited the Hawks to one field goal in 16 chances which extended into the second half, but it was not enough.

Monmouth (8-11, 4-6 MAAC) led the entire game, and hit nine of their first 18 shots from the floor. The Hawks set the tone when Helena Kurt nailed a 3-pointer 30 seconds into the game and the Hawks eventually opened that lead to a 7-1 advantage.

Kristine Miller, who came in shooting 55 percent from the floor in her last five games for Fairfield (7-12, 6-4 MAAC), got the first field goal for the Stags at 16:25 to cut into the Hawks lead at 7-3.

The Hawks would use their height advantage and extend that lead and shoot a combined 40 percent in the first half. Monmouth took their largest lead by nine after a layup by Amanda Offenback put the home team up 17-8 and forced a Fairfield timeout.

The Stags actually held Monmouth without a field goal for the final six minutes of the period until Offenback gained the rebound on a missed free throw and put in the layup with seven seconds remaining to take a 28-16 lead in the locker room.

 Up until that point, Monmouth had missed their last seven from the field and kept their lead by hitting their first four free throws.

Fairfield found their shooting touch a little bit by hitting three of their final five shots of the half.

Although the Stags did not have the height advantage, they tried to get back in the game in several ways. Fairfield had six offensive rebounds in the first 13 minutes and forced a very athletic Monmouth team to six turnovers during that stretch. Unfortunately for the Stags, they could only convert one second chance point with their six offensive boards.

The Stags had 11 offensive rebounds on just three second chance points in the game.

Fairfield forced 11 Monmouth turnovers and turned those into eight points.

Sarah Olson, who was the leading scorer for the home team coming in, was limited to two points in the first half after she netted a career-high 27 in her last game.

Fairfield got the defensive stops they needed at the start of the second half, holding the Hawks without a field goal for the first seven minutes of the second half, (0-9) to try and inch back in the game.

On the offensive end, Fairfield got the looks they wanted from the top of the key but the 3-ball just wouldn't fall.

The Stags got as close as eight on two occasions on layups from Helena Orts and Samantha Cooper cut the Monmouth lead to 28-20 with 16:25 remaining.

Casey Smith, Kelsey Carey, and Kristin Schatzlein led the team with five points apiece. On the glass, Cooper led the team for the second-straight game with six rebounds.

Walk-on Emma McCarthy tallied her first career point on a free throw.

In total, the Stags forced 19 turnovers, their most in a game since January 4 against Niagara.

Fairfield will return home to face the offensive force that is the Iona Gaels on Thursday at 7pm.