FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Less than a week after their first meeting, the Fairfield University Women's Basketball team will close out the season series against the Manhattan Jaspers when they travel to Riverdale, N.Y., for a 3pm contest on ESPN3.
Both teams will be coming off their best offensive games as the Stags scored 78 in their victory at Iona. Both of Fairfield's post players,
Samantha Cooper and
Khadidiatou Diouf tallied career-highs in the victory. Cooper poured in a game-high 29 while Diouf netted 20.
It was the second-straight game where the Stags never trailed, even though Iona cut their deficit to one in a 25-point fourth quarter.
Cooper jumped two spots in the program's all-time points list, surpassing
Taryn Johnson by a single point to enter the top-20. Cooper also hauled in 12 rebounds at Iona, bringing her career number to 932. With that number, Cooper also moves into the top-five in the program's rebounding department as she passed Robin Massari.
Fairfield also reached their magic number of 70 points in their victory over Iona. The Stags have had success when reaching that number, winning the last 27 games when they have reached that mark. That streak spans back to December 5, 2010 in a loss to Hofstra.
The Jaspers are coming off their best offensive game since the 2015-16 season opener as they scored 82 points in a victory over Niagara. Senior Kayla Grimme, who is probably
Samantha Cooper's opponent for MAAC Player of the Week consideration, scored a game-high 28 points on 3-for-5 shooting from behind the arc. KellyAnne O'Reilly had a career game, coming off the bench to shoot a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor including all four of her attempts from deep.
Grimme, who was held to 12 points in her first meeting with the Stags, is still the team's leading scorer with 14.7 points per game. She is also the team's leader on the boards with 7.7 rebounds per contest. Amani Tatum is the leader of the backcourt with a conference best .434 shooting percentage from 3-point range. The reigning MAAC Defensive Player of the Year leads the conference with 2.8 steals per game.
The Stags will return home when they host Marist on Thursday at 7pm, in Fairfield's annual Play 4 Kay contest.
