Box Score CINCINNATI, Ohio – The Fairfield University Women's Basketball defense was impressive going up against a Big East foe, forcing 22 turnovers against Xavier. But their offense could not match that success as the Stags shot 22.0 percent and made 18 miscues of their own as they fell 48-35 to Xavier. The setback marks the first loss for the Stags this season.
The Stags struggled mightily on the offensive side out of the game, hitting just one of their 14 shot attempts in the first quarter.
Andrea Hernangomez was the lone Stag to touch the bottom of the net with a long jumper at the 3:15 mark of the period.
That struggle would spread into the second quarter, as the Stags went 3-for-11 from the field and missed all nine of their 3-point attempts in the first half.
The Stags hung around and cut the Xavier lead to just six after a pair of
Katie Armstrong free throws. In fact, Fairfield was able to stay within striking distance with their success at the stripe, going 6-for-6 at the line, a game after they hit all 13 of their free throw attempts.
As much as the Stags struggled offensively, so did Xavier as they could not solve Fairfield's zone defense. The Muskeeters turned the ball over 14 times in the first half, compared to 11 miscues by the Stags. The Stags tallied eight steals on the defensive side in the first 20 minutes with
Sam Kramer and
Kendra Landy each swiping three.
However, Xavier made their shots when they needed to including a fade away 3-pointer by Na'Teshia Owens 21-12 near the end of the half. A pair of free throws by both sides accounted for the 23-14 halftime score.
Armstrong would open the scoring in the second half with a bucket to cut the deficit to 23-16, making eight-straight points for Armstrong going back to the first half.
Xavier would answer with a 9-2 run to run their lead back to double digits.
For the second-straight game, Armstrong led the way on the scoring column for the Stags as she tallied 16 points.
Casey Foley also entered double figures with 11 points, including the only 3-pointer for the Stags.
Landy led the defensive charge with five steals. The Stags would force 22 turnovers, but had 18 of their own.
For the first-time in program history, the Stags went back-to-back games without missing a free throw (minimum of 10 attempts) as they hit all 12 in the contest. Going back to their last contest, the Stags have now hit 25-straight free throw attempts.
The Stags will have a week off before they next take the court in the Turkey Tip-off in Providence, R.I. The Stags will play three games in three days starting with a game against the host school Brown on Friday, Nov. 23 at 4pm.
