FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Sam Kramer had the best game of her young career by tying the program's single-game record for 3-pointers with seven, but that was not what the sophomore was focusing on during the last few minutes of the contest, "I was just looking up at the scoreboard making sure we still had the lead and building it up," Kramer said. The Fairfield University Women's Basketball team did indeed keep building on the lead as they would eventually take a 76-65 decision over Mount St. Mary's, the Stags' first victory of the 2017-18 season. Kramer's career-high 27 point performance highlighted three Stags in double figures as Samantha Cooper chipped in 17 and Khadidiatou Diouf added 14.
 
Kramer became the fifth Stag in program history to reach seven 3-pointers in a game and the first since Alexys Vasquez hit the mark on December 29, 2012 against Wagner. Kramer shot 70 percent (7-for-10) from behind the arc, the fourth best percentage in program history.
 
"She was really, really, really good tonight," Head Coach Joe Frager said. "She has that point guard mentality where she will pass up on a lot of shots, she didn't do that tonight. Her teammates did a really nice job of finding her, and because she shot the ball so well I think it opened up other opportunities for us."
 
Almost like it was scripted, Kramer's first 3-pointer gave the Stags (1-3) their first lead of the night at 7-6 with 6:38 left in the first quarter, and the Stags would not relinquish the lead for the night. Five of Kramer's 3-pointers came in the first half, helping the Stags build a 40-27 halftime lead.
 
The Stags would score the first 13 points of the second half, capped off by a Kramer lay-up that gave the Stags their largest lead of the night at 53-27.
 
Aside from Kramer, the Stags played their best game of the season, dishing out a season-high 23 assists on just eight turnovers. Seven different Stags tallied at least one assist, with Casey Foley leading the team with six without committing a turnover.
 
As a team, the Stags came just one 3-pointer away from tying the team's single game record which was also set in that Wagner game of 2012. Foley added two triples, and for the third-straight game freshman Sam Lewis added a pair of long range shots.
 
Cooper added her conference-leading third double-double of the season, finishing with 17 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
 
Diouf recorded double figures in scoring for the fourth-straight game as she finished with 17.
 
Mount St. Mary's (0-4) would chip away and eventually cut the Fairfield lead to nine at 70-61 with less than a minute to play, but Kendra Landy and Cooper combined to hit six-straight free throws to end the game.
 
On the defensive side, the Stags forced 18 turnovers, led by three steals by Landy.
The Stags will try to build on their first game of the season when they travel to Lehigh for the Christmas City Classic Tournament, starting with a Saturday afternoon contest against the host Mountain Hawks at 2pm.