FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Make it win number 70 in the impactful careers of the Fairfield women's basketball Class of 2016. Lizzy Ball and Kristin Schatzlein combined to score 18 points and dish out 16 assists as the Stags reached the 80-point plateau for the first time in a regulation game since 2012, in defeating Monmouth 80-70 on Senior Day. The victory was the seventh-straight for the Stags and their ninth in the last 10 outings.
“It was a great senior night to have,” Schatzelin said. “It was a hard game to play. We just came out and stayed focused and we won it.”
“It's awesome,” Ball said. “You don't want to remember your senior game losing to a team. I think it's just icing on the cake.”
Both Schatzlein and Ball not only enjoyed the victory, but they were main contributors in the victory.
Ball, who came into the game ninth in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio, led the firepower in the first half, dishing out eight assists without a turnover as Fairfield (15-10, 10-6 MAAC) enjoyed their best first half of the season scoring a season-high 45 points.
Schatzlein's first 3-pointer of the game at the 8:05 mark in the first quarter gave Fairfield a 7-0 lead to start the afternoon. It also tied her for third place in 3-pointers in Fairfield history, as her 207th career 3-pointer moved her into a tie with Holli Tapley. Schatzlein would hit another long range shot to take over sole possession of third place.
Monmouth (9-16, 7-9 MAAC) took a brief 48 second lead when Tyese Purvis hit a 3-pointer and McKinzee Barker's jumper regained the Hawks advantage with 3:43 left in the first quarter. Schatzlein would answer back with a jumper, and the Stags would not trail for the rest of the contest.
Kelsey Carey broke a 20-20 tie in the opening minute of the second quarter with a layup which turned into a three-point opportunity.
The most vital stretch in the opening half came in the final 3:30 of the first half when they Stags would end the frame on a 10-1 run which was capped off by a 3-pointer by Kristen McLaughlin.
That lead would be extended to 21-points after Carey sunk two free throws after hitting a fast break layup.
The lead managed to stay double digits for the rest of the contest despite Monmouth making a late run, which cut the Fairfield advantage to 11 with 2:52 left in the game. As the story has been during this nine-game stretch, the Stags found another player to don the role of hero during this rough stretch, as Kristine Miller recorded 10 of the team's 18 fourth quarter points and kept the margin out of striking distance as Monmouth managed 26 fourth quarter points.
“It's what they deserve,” Carey, who had a game-high 21 points said about winning for the seniors on Senior Day. “They've given four years to the program, they've given me three years of great basketball and leadership. I think it's just another layer on the cake to come out and work that much harder to get a win for them, for each other, and for our school.”
Fans might look at the 80 points and think that was the story of the game, but when you look at the minute details in the box score you can see how much more detail oriented this Stags team has been over the last nine games.
Coming into this contest, Monmouth was averaging 40.5 rebounds per game and their 6-4 forward Christina Mitchell was in the top-25 nationally in offensive rebounds per game. Today, the Stags out-rebounded the Hawks (37-36) and held Mitchell without an offensive rebound for the first time all season. In fact, the Stags actually grabbed 17 offensive rebounds today, marking their season-high.
“That's a credit to the kids,” Head Coach Joe Frager said. “I think that's one of the areas we were struggling with a little bit in the beginning of the season, talking about scouting reports and points of emphasis going into the game. What are our defensive points of emphasis? What are our keys to the game? And the kids have been locking on that much better, taking it to heart and as a group doing their best to stay to the script.”
Monmouth also played intense man-to-man pressure defense, but senior guards Ball and Schatzlein combined for 16 assists on just two turnovers. As a group, the Stags managed just 11 turnovers on a season-high 23 assists.
In the win, the Stags reached the 60-point plateau for the sixth-straight contest, the first time they have done that since the 2008-09 campaign. They accomplished this with four players reaching double figures, led by Carey's 21-points, the third game in-a-row where a Stag has reached 20 points. Miller had a new career-high with 15 points and Schatzlein and Casey Smith both added 13 points.
It is the eighth-straight win for the Stags when four players reach double figures in the same game, and the 17th-straight victory when they reach the 60-point mark.
For Monmouth, Jasmine McCall led the Hawks with 16 points while Jamiyah Bethune added 15. Amazingly, the Hawks had more points in the paint than the Stags (40-34) considering Monmouth is known as a shooting team and only attempted one 3-pointer in the second half.
The Stags also showed a bit more transition game, turning in 17 fast break points, a season-high.
Fairfield is now set to embark on the most difficult finish of any conference team when they travel to the top-four teams in the MAAC standings, starting at Loudonville, N.Y., when they take on Siena as the Saints host the annual 'Pink Zone' game on Wednesday at 7pm.
