FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University Women's Basketball team will travel to Cincinnati, Ohio, to face Big East foe Xavier on Saturday at 2pm. This matchup will mark the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
 
The Stags will look to move their record to 3-0 when they head to Xavier, after posting wins against Richmond and most recently LIU Brooklyn. The early season success has been noticed around the area, as the Stags received enough votes to move into the College Insider Women's Basketball Mid-Major Top-25 Poll, currently ranked No. 25. This is Fairfield's first-ever ranking in the poll, as they last received votes during the 2015-16 season.
 
Fairfield has out-scored their opponents by an average of 23 points during the first two games of the season, helped by a 28-point victory over the Blackbirds. Katie Armstrong led a trio of Stags in double figures as Armstrong posted a career-high 20 points. Through two games, Armstrong has already recorded more points as a Stag (30) than she did at Saint Joseph's during her freshman season (27). Sam Lewis also had the best shooting game of her career, shooting 4-for-6 from deep.
 
For the second-straight game the deciding run came in the third quarter as the Stags out-scored the Blackbirds 22-12 during the period. In the two games, Fairfield has out-scored their opponent 47-20 in the third quarter. Also in both cases, the Stags started out the period on a run with a 14-0 run against Richmond and a 14-1 stretch against the Blackbirds. The Stags held Richmond without a point until the 4:30 mark of the third quarter and did not allow a LIU field goal until the 3:03 mark.
 
The Stags also went perfect from the line in their win over LIU, hitting all 13 of their free throw attempts. This is the seventh time in program history the Stags have hit all of their free throws with at least 10 attempts. It is also the second time under Head Coach Joe Frager with the last time coming against East Carolina during the 2014-15 season opener.
 
Xavier has started their season 2-1 with their only loss coming against No. 25 Minnesota in their last time out. The Musketeers are a young and balanced team that averages 8.7 3-pointers per game, with six different players tying for the team lead with four makes. A'riana Gray is the team's leading scorer with 14.7 points per game and shooting 58 percent from the field. The Musketeers were picked to finish 10th in the Big East Preseason Poll.
 
The Stags will rest until the Thanksgiving holiday concludes and they are back in action at the Turkey Tip-off in Providence, R.I. The Stags will take on the host school Brown University on Friday at 4pm.