CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – In order to go on to the home floor of an ACC school and grab a victory, your team must be hitting on all cylinders and play as a collective unit. The Fairfield University Women's Basketball team checked both of those boxes and opened up some eyes as they went into the Conte Forum and took down Boston College 66-58 in the Jesuit Basketball Spotlight. In picking up their first win in Chestnut Hill since 2000, the Stags were led by a career-high tying 24 points and a personal-best six 3-pointers by Samantha Cooper and a career-best 10 assists from Kendra Landy.
 
"It was a great team win," Head Coach Joe Frager said. "I really thought we did some good things defensively, and I thought our kids stuck to (Laura) Scinto's game plan really well. In the second half we wanted to be methodical on offense and run our stuff and make them get through a lot of screens and we did that."
 
Cooper's 24 points were highlighted by a fourth quarter showing that saw her hit three-straight 3-pointers which broke a 50-50 tie and gave the Stags a 61-52 lead. That 50-50 tie came after Boston College (3-5) went on an 8-0 run.
 
Cooper was not the only Stag to take over a stretch of this game. Landy opened up the floor both by her dribbling and her passing. In the third quarter, Landy would drive the lane and convert on back-to-back layups, extending an one-point Fairfield lead to five. Landy would have a hand in most of the action during the third quarter. Aside from her lay-ups, the junior assisted on five of the seven other field goals for the Stags.
 
After playing in only nine minutes during the first half because of foul trouble, Khadidiatou Diouf made a difference during the second half, making four of the team's final five field goals in the third quarter, including a hook shot that went through the net as the time expired to give the Stags a 45-38 lead entering the final quarter.
 
Although most of the offensive action came in the second half, the Stags played their best complete 40 minutes of the season, leading for nearly 29 minutes. The first half was dominated by defense as the Stags held Boston College to a .303 shooting percentage (10-for-33).
 
The Stags were enjoying their best defensive quarter of the season, holding the Eagles to just seven points through the first 9:55 of the game as they jumped out to a 12-7 lead. However, Boston College was able to grab the momentum and cut the Fairfield lead to one on a 4-point play by Taylor Ortlepp with 5.6 seconds left in the quarter.
 
The Stags opened the second quarter by getting their looks behind the arc as seven of their first nine shots of the quarter were from long range. Casey Foley and Eden Nibbelink connected on their chances enabling the Stags too keep their lead until the 4:01 when Katie Quandt got an offensive rebound and put back in her chance to make the score 21-20 in favor of Boston College.
 
Fairfield would regain the lead on another shot from the outside as Sam Kramer knocked down a 3-pointer from the right wing, which was set up by nice team passing around the perimeter. The two teams would battle for the halftime lead and it looked like the Stags would get the upper hand when Landy beat her defender off the dribble and finished a contested lay-up to give the Stags a 25-23 lead with 10 seconds left. The Eagles would answer, however, in dramatic fashion as Milan Bolden-Morris banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the home team a 26-25 advantage.
 
Boston College led for only 3:12 of the contest.
 
In the game, Landy recorded her first career double-double with 10 points and 10 assists. Cooper recorded her conference-leading fourth double-double of the season with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Foley would be at the forefront of a Stags defense that forced 20 turnover by setting a career-high four steals.
 
"The coach speak is that this is only our third win of the season and we need to try and get a fourth," Coach Frager said. "Hopefully they grow from this and know they're capable of certain things but they have to play a certain way in order to be successful."
 
The Stags will return home when they welcome Villanova to the George Bisacca Court at Alumni Hall on Wednesday at 7pm.