FAIRFIELD, Conn. – As soon as the buzzer sounded, Kristine Miller looked to her teammates and said “Girls, congratulations on the 600th win.” It was a time for the entire unit to celebrate, because everyone who stepped on to the court tonight contributed to Fairfield University women's basketball history. Four different Stags scored nine-plus points, led by Kelsey Carey's 20, as the Stags defeated the Rider Broncs 63-56, for the 600th win in Fairfield's Division I history.

“I made it a point after the game to mention that to them,” Head Coach Joe Frager said. “They gave a really loud cheer. They were really proud of that fact.”

“This is awesome,” Carey, who reached the 20-point plateau for the fourth time in her career said. “First Schatz gets to 1,000 points, now we're at 600 wins, it's great to be part of that. Especially with this group of girls and coaches.”

All night long, Fairfield (10-10, 5-6 MAAC) had different contributors when it came to scoring and it helped them to arguably the most consistent game the Stags have had all season. Four different Stags scored in the first quarter, helping Fairfield jump out to a 12-6 lead.

Rider (4-16, 1-10 MAAC) was able to tie the score 22-22 with 3:16 left in the first half, but Lizzy Ball would provide an individual 5-0 run and the Stags would not trail again. Ball, whose 3-pointer started the 5-0 run, has now connected on over 60 percent of her long range shots in the last five games.

The Stags led at halftime despite Carey, their leading scorer, struggling to a 3-10 shooting performance in the first 20 minutes. But her team picked her up. Samanatha Cooper led the way with seven points in the first half, including two 3-pointers.

In the second half, Carey came alive.

“[Sometimes] shots don't fall and [sometimes] shots fall,” Carey said. “In the second half we just wanted to win so bad that we were all just going that much harder. I know I was crashing the boards more and just looking for those second shots. We just have to keep playing, and that's what we did today.”

“That shows growth on her part,” Frager said. “Kelsey wears her heart on her sleeve and she's an emotional player. You can use that emotion as a positive, and tonight she did. She didn't let it become a negative, she bounced back really, really well and I thought gave us a great performance tonight.”

Carey shot 6-for-10 in the second half that helped the Stags gain their largest lead at 15 (56-41) midway through the fourth quarter. In fact, it was her put back off a missed free throw that gave Fairfield that advantage.

The Broncs, who were averaging 70 points in their last three games entering tonight, cut that deficit to just five, courtesy of a 14-3 run spanning over three minutes.

Fairfield, however, clamped down on defense and only allowed a layup with five seconds left in the game.

Carey was the only Stag in double figures, but the numbers show this was arguably the most balanced win of the season. Casey Smith, Kristin Schatzlein, and Miller all tallied nine points. Lizzy Ball led the offense again with six assists. The Stags also out-rebounded the Broncs by a 38-32 margin with Cooper grabbing a team-high eight boards.

For the Broncs, Robin Perkins led three players in double figures with 19 points. Julia Duggan recorded a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

The Stags are now back to the .500 mark at 10-10 and have won four of their last five games.

“I think we're really moving in the right direction,” Miller said. “I think this is really a confidence boost for us and I think this is just a big confidence builder. I think this is huge and we just want to keep going and put W's in the win column.”

Fairfield will hit the road for their only away game in an eight-game span when they take on Monmouth Saturday at 4pm on ESPN3.