EMMITSBURG, Md. – If you're looking to sum up this victory into a few words, perhaps the best way do so is to say: it was a grind. The Stags had to withstand a pesky Mount St. Mary's defense and several scoring droughts to grind out a 70-57 road victory for their third-straight win. To do so, the Stags needed contributions from everyone on their roster, to work hard on the glass, and hit a couple big long range shots. They did all three.
“I'm well aware how hard it is to play here,” Head Coach Joe Frager said. “They change defenses constantly, they run traps at you from different angles and they run a truck load offensively. It was a game of runs. It was grind it out game with someone stepping up in different quarters to lead to the win.”
For the first two quarters, that person stepping up was Samantha Cooper who helped the Stags through a sluggish start.
Both teams used solid defensive efforts in the first quarter which resulted in both teams having five minute scoring droughts. The Stags were the first squad to have their shooting woes, not recording their first points until Cooper hit two free throws six minutes into the game. The redshirt junior got the Stags going in the scoring department when she nailed Fairfield's first field goal with a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
While they were struggling from the field, the Stags were able to stay in the game courtesy of their defense who allowed just six Mount St. Mary's points during the six minute span and only two field goals.
Cooper's points seemed to relax the squad as that would start a 13-0 run, giving the visiting side their first lead of the contest.
The Stags would keep a lead until the 4:07 mark of the second quarter when Kayla Agentowicz made four-straight free throws which would give the home side a one-point lead. That lead would soon evaporate as both teams exchanged points, leading to a four point Fairfield lead. To get there, the Stags hit eight-straight free throws and needed a Cooper 3-pointer with eight seconds left. The charity stripe is where the Stags were able to gain the halftime lead as Fairfield hit 17 of 18 free throws over the first 20 minutes. Fairfield could have had a larger lead going into the locker room but Kathleen Belanger-Finn answered Cooper's late 3-point with a buzzer beating three to put the Mountaineers within 37-33.
The senior guard Belanger-Finn hit all five of her shots in the second quarter including all three from long range to record 13 of her team's 23 points in the second frame.
After back-to-back 3-pointers to start the second half from Casey Foley and Macey Hollenshead gave the Stags their largest lead at 43-33, Fairfield could not find their shooting form for the next five minutes, missing their next six attempts until Kelsey Carey broke the scoring drought with an athletic and deceptive floater in the lane. Cooper would give the Stags their biggest momentum swing of the game as she beat the buzzer at the end of the third quarter with her career-high tying fourth 3-pointer to give Fairfield their largest lead at 56-44 in the fourth.
Back to the final goal the Stags had today and that was to hit a couple of big long range shots. Arguably, the most important came from Hollenshead who drilled a three from the left side that gave the Stags a double digit lead in the fourth quarter. It was one of the nine long range shots that the Stags would hit tonight.
Another key for the Stags was to control the rebounding battle, which they accomplished by out-rebounding the Mountaineers to a 39-23 clip.
Cooper would finish with a season-high 21 points just one shy of her career-high. Khadidiatou Diouf nearly doubled her career output with a new personal best 14 points, just two points shy of the number she tallied during her career prior to the game. She was the force in the second half, hitting five of her first six shots during the closing 20 minutes.
The Stags will now return home for their final non-conference home game when they welcome the University of Rhode Island to George Bisacca Court on Wednesday at 1pm.
