FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Monmouth Hawks had their best shooting night of the season, hitting 11 of their 16 attempts from 3-point range as the Fairfield University Women's Basketball team fell 73-63 on Super Sunday. The Stags were tied 46-46 heading into the fourth quarter until the Hawks out-scored the Stags 27-17 in the final period.
 
The Stags were able to keep the game tied heading into that final quarter because of their defense, which forced 22 turnovers. Once again, the defense was led by the team's sparkplug Casey Foley who swiped five steals for the second-straight game. Those five swipes brings her career total to 157, which places her 13th on the program's all-time list.
 
Foley not only carried the Stags defensively but also offensively as she poured in a career-high 19 points including a game-high five 3-pointers. Seven of those points came in the first quarter as she went 3-for-4 from the field during the first period, including scoring Fairfield's first four points. That performance helped the Stags cut the Monmouth lead to 22-19 after the first 10 minutes, despite the Hawks shooting 6-for-7 from deep.
 
The Stags would not allow a 3-pointer over the next 20 minutes as they grabbed a 32-30 halftime lead. Foley was able to tie the game with a 3-pointer to open up the second quarter, starting a 7-0 run for the Stags. Rachel Hakes would hit two free throws to give the Stags the lead and Katie Armstrong followed with a jumper to put the score at 26-22.
 
That would be Fairfield's largest lead of the first half, a margin they matched after Andrea Hernangomez converted a traditional 3-point play with 2:53 left in the half.
 
Fairfield would lead by as many as 10 points with 3:47 left in the third quarter after Armstrong grabbed an offensive rebound and hit the second chance lay-up while picking up the foul. That 3-point play made the score 46-36 and was the end of a 12-4 run.
 
The Stags would not score again for the rest of the quarter, allowing Monmouth to end the third period on a 10-0 run. The Hawks used that momentum to put up 27 points in the fourth quarter while going 5-for-7 from long range.
 
Fairfield would not lead in the final period but was able to make the deficit one point on two different occasions, the final one coming on a Khadidiatou Diouf lay-up with 8:51 left in the game.
 
Diouf followed Foley with 18 points and Armstrong netted 13 to join the duo in double figures. Fairfield did a good job at controlling the paint as they swatted six shots, including a career-high three coming from Lou Lopez-Senechal. The freshman also drew two charges to bring her team lead to nine this season.
 
Fairfield shot 44 percent from the field and 40 percent from long range but dropped the battle of the boards being out-rebounded 36-24.
 
The Stags are next in action on Thursday in their annual Play4Kay contest against Canisius at 7pm.