FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University Women's Basketball team has gained a lot of confidence over their recent 5-3 stretch, and they will try to increase those positive feelings when they travel to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., to take on the Marist Red Foxes on Tuesday night.
 
The Stags are coming off a near upset of league-leading Quinnipiac as they Stags held an advantage in the fourth quarter, the first MAAC team this year to be leading in the final period against the Bobcats
 
Fairfield had one of their best defensive efforts of the season, holding Quinnipiac to conference season lows of 48 points and a .286 shooting percentage. The Stags trailed by just one with two minutes left, and while Fairfield did not allow a field goal for the rest of the contest, Quinnipiac connected on seven of their final eight free throws for the win.
 
Freshman Lou Lopez-Senechal earned her third MAAC Rookie of the Week award, including her second-straight after leading the Stags with 18.0 points per game. She started the week with a career-high tying 21 points in the dominating win against Siena and had a game-high 15 points against Quinnipiac. She also paced the team with 8.5 rebounds per contest.
 
Her three MAAC Rookie of the Week honors are now tied with Manhattan's D'yona Davis and Saint Peter's Briyanah Richardson for the most in the league this year.
 
The Stags went 3-for-8 from 3-point range against Quinnipiac and now lead the MAAC in 3-point percentage in conference games, with a .366 mark. Sam Kramer leads the bunch with a .488 percentage in MAAC games, the tops in the league.
 
Marist enters the game with an 18-8 overall record and a 10-4 mark in the MAAC, but are 3-3 over their last six games.
 
The leading offense in the conference is averaging just 62.3 points over those last six games, bringing their scoring offense down to 67.9 this season. The Red Foxes are still the most accurate team in the MAAC, hitting 42 percent of their shots, 36 percent of their 3-point attempts, and 76 percent of their free throws. Marist also leads the lead with 16.2 assists per game.
 
Rebekah Hand and Alana Gilmer are the team's two leading scorers as they combine for 32.7 points per game. Hand has been an all-around threat for the Red Foxes with team-highs in rebounds (6.0), 3-pointers (2.4), 3-point percentage (.414), and free throw percentage (.938).
 
Fairfield will hit the road for their final road game of the season when they visit Saint Peter's on Friday night at 7pm.