Box Score FAIRFIELD, Conn. – If you think about it, win number 150 was the prototype of what Head Coach Joe Frager has built the Fairfield basketball program around: a defensive staple, and the ability to grind out a win. Both of those cornerstones were on display as the Stags took a 54-52 overtime victory against Monmouth on Super Bowl Sunday. With the win the Stags notched their fourth-straight home win and moved into a third place tie with Iona.
“It was a sweet way to win it,” Head Coach Joe Frager said. “I give our team a lot of credit, we just played this team a week ago…they're a much better team than their record would indicate. I thought we did a pretty good job at keeping the game at our tempo. They wanted to win the game so badly I think that led to a couple of our mental mistakes.”
Fairfield (9-12, 8-4 MAAC) shot 57 percent in the overtime period and took the lead for good after a Kristine Miller layup with 3:56 left to play put the game at 45-44. The Stags would increase their lead to as many as six after a free throw by Felicia DaCruz. Monmouth made it interesting with Helena Kurt hitting a 3-pointer with 26 seconds left to make it a one possession game. The Stags then turned the ball over, giving the Hawks a chance to tie the game, but leading scorer Sarah Olsen's tying attempt was off the mark and Fairfield sealed the win with a Samantha Cooper layup.
The Stags have done a good job limiting Monmouth's offensive threat with Olsen who had seven point today and was 1-9 from behind the arc.
“They just gutted it out,” Frager said. “The more you're thrown into those situations that are uncomfortable, the more you grow from them, the more you learn from them.”
Monmouth's (8-13, 3-8 MAAC) athletic and lengthy defenders gave the Stags some trouble in the second half, limiting Fairfield to three field goals in the period and taking a four-point lead with 2:36 remaining in regulation. Fairfield's defense would lock down Monmouth and not allow another point, while Casey Smith hit a straight away jumper with 35 seconds to play to tie the game at 41-41.
The Stags were able to stay in the game despite their shooting, not only by their stingy defense, but also by the rebounding of Cooper and Kelsey Carey. Cooper would tally a career-high 14 rebounds, the most by a Stag this season and is averaging 10 rebounds over her last four games.
“I'm just trying to go after the ball to try and do something for the team,” Cooper said. “From a team perspective we've been focusing in practice in rebounding drills because usually when you can control the boards it helps control the game.”
Fairfield led by as many as nine points, the same margin they brought into halftime. Smith tallied eight points in the first frame and the Stags limited the Hawks to 27 percent shooting from the floor and 1-11 from deep.
The Stags did not trail by more than a single point the opening stanza, a deficit they faced twice. A layup by Carey put Fairfield ahead 7-6 with 12:43 left in the first period and the home team would not chase again in the first half. The Stags took a nine-point lead after a 3-pointer by Kristin Schatzlein, who reached double figures for the 15th time this season, put the Fairfield advantage at 20-11.
A Felicia DaCruz long range shot with one-minute left gave the nine-point lead back to Fairfield, a margin they would take into the locker room.
The Stags did not give up the lead until 11:35 remaining in the second half, but quickly regained their composure with a Cooper 3-pointer.
The biggest basket for the Hawks, who lost their fourth straight game at Alumni Hall, came from Christina Mitchell with 5:50 left to tick give the Hawks a two-point lead. It would be that same margin for the dramatic shot from Smith, coming off an in-bounds play that would eventually send the game into overtime.
Smith led the team for the second-straight game with 14 points while Cooper grabbed 14 boards. Smith also had a career-high four blocks, the most by a Stag this season. As a team, the Stags are averaging five blocks per game over the last seven contests (they averaged two per outing in their first 14).
Felicia DaCruz tallied four assists for the second-straight contest and a season-high seven boards and tied a career-best with three steals.
“We've been changing defenses, we've been pressing, we've been playing man-to-man, and we've been switching everything,” Cooper said. “I think we've been doing a really good job as a team of talking and taking pride and getting stops and not letting out girl beat us. If all five of us commit to that, then we're pretty much unstoppable.”
“They're not an easy team to guard,” Frager said. “When we guard well, we move as one. They call 'air time' as the ball is passed, we need five players adjusting their position defensively, and I think more often than not we had that tonight.”
Fairfield will now voyage to their longest road trip of the MAAC season, travelling to Western, N.Y. to take on Canisius on Thursday at 11am.
