FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The journey for the fourth Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championship in the history of the Fairfield University Women's Basketball program will start on Saturday afternoon when they fourth-seeded Stags take on the No. 5 Rider Broncs in the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y.
This will be Fairfield's 13th straight appearance in the MAAC Quarterfinals, the second longest active streak in the conference. Quarterfinal action will be streamed on ESPN3 starting at 2:30pm
The Stags and the Broncs split their regular season series with the road team taking the victory in each. In her first start of the season,
Macey Hollenshead scored a then career-high 14 points as the Stags went on a 12-0 run in Lawrenceville, N.J.
Hollenshead, along with
Samantha Cooper and
Kristen McLaughlin, will be playing their final conference tournament in their careers. Cooper has been the stalwart of the program, and is 15 rebounds shy of becoming the fifth player in program history with 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds, and the first since current assistant coach
Stephanie Geehan.
The Stags will also have to rely on their defense which has picked up the intensity in recent games. The Stags have recorded 10 or more steals in four-straight games the first time they have accomplished that since 2008. Individually,
Casey Foley (8) and
Macey Hollenshead (7) became the first pair of teammates in program history to notch seven or more steals in back-to-back games.
This will be the fifth time in program history that the Stags have earned the No. 4 seed in the MAAC Tournament and the first time since the 2015-16 season. Fairfield also finished fourth during the 2004-05, 1993-94, and 1984-85. The Stags hold a 3-1 record in the Quarterfinals as the No. 4 seed, with their only loss coming to Monmouth during the 2015-16 campaign.
Rider will be making their ninth appearance in the MAAC Quarterfinals and the third time in the last five years. The Broncs advanced to their first conference finals last season, before falling to Quinnipiac. The Stags and the Broncs will be meeting for the sixth time in the MAAC Tournament with the Stags still holding a 3-2 mark. Rider has been victorious in the last two meetings, a semi-final win last season and a quarterfinal decision in 2013-14.
Senior Kamila Hoskova leads active Broncs with 16.8 points and 6.5 rebounds during her four-game MAAC Tournament career. Lexi Posset has added 13.0 points per tournament contest. Posset and Hoskova led the Broncs with 14 points during last season's victory over the Stags while Stella Johnson added six.
The winner of this contest will advance to the MAAC Semifinals and face the winner of No. 1 Quinnipiac and No. 9 Monmouth on Sunday at 11am.
