Box Score FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Head Coach Joe Frager knew that his team only had a couple of options as they saw yet another team make a fourth quarter run. The Stags could either shy away from the moment or embrace it, and the Fairfield University Women's Basketball team responded with one of their best shooting nights of the season, hitting a season-high 13 3-pointers to take a 72-65 victory at Alumni Hall on their annual Play4Kay night.
 
"After you've been kicked as many times as we have been in those circumstances you have to have either a fight or flight mentality," Coach Frager said. "You're either going to shy away from the moment or you're going to embrace the moment and go towards the moment. I think our kids did that tonight. We had kids stepping up shooting the ball in the last five minutes like it was the first five minutes of the game. That's the mentality that you need to have."
 
The Stags showed that mentality by connecting on four of their five 3-point attempts in the fourth quarter even after Canisius trimmed an 11-point deficit to just four on several occasions. The difference in this contest, was the Stags were able to answer every Canisius run.
 
D'Jhai Patterson-Ricks, who hit the game-winner against the Stags in their first contest, hit a jumper to put the game at 50-46, only to be answered by a 3-pointer by Casey Foley to put the score back at seven. After two Canisius free throws on their next possession, Lou Lopez-Senechal was the Stag to step up as she hit a 3-pointer to make the score 56-48.
 
That shooting courage was also shown late after Canisius cut the score back to 61-57 with under two minutes left. Katie Armstrong, who had the best shooting night of her collegiate career, answered with her fourth 3-pointer of the night to put the game back within seven. Sam Kramer would thwart any other Canisius run by hitting all six of her free throws down the stretch for the victory.
 
In total, the Stags connected on 13 of their 26 attempts from behind the arc, with 10 of those coming in the final 30 minutes of the game.
 
One of the biggest of those long-range shots came in the final minute of the half as Foley's 3-pointer gave the Stags a 29-28 lead, an advantage they would keep for the rest of the night. Lopez-Senechal would end the half with a trifecta, giving the Stags a 32-28 halftime lead.
 
Fairfield led by as many as 13 points in the final minute of the third quarter before Canisius would make their fourth quarter run.
 
Armstrong's shooting performance would be the numbers that jump out as the redshirt junior hit all of her four 3-point attempts and shot 7-for-9 from the field, the best percentage by a Stag this season. Foley would provide four 3-pointers, with two of those coming in the final period. Sam Lewis also provided a spark off the bench hitting two trifectas in the first quarter.
 
Kramer was the orchestrator of the offense with a career-high eight assists without a single turnover.
 
 
While the offensive numbers may be eye catching, it was the Fairfield defense that provided the intensity. The Stags forced 18 turnovers, bringing their three game total to 59. Foley, as usual, was the sparkplug with five steals for the third-straight game. She now has recorded 162 in her career, moving her to 12th on the all-time list.
 
The Stags will look to keep their momentum when they host Niagara on Saturday at 5pm, in a game that will be streamed live on the NCAA Women's Basketball Facebook page.