FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University Women's Basketball team will close out their longest homestand of the season when they host Niagara on the George Bisacca Court at Alumni Hall on Saturday at 5pm. This contest will complete a Fairfield basketball doubleheader with the men's team taking on Monmouth at the Webster Bank Arena at 1pm. The game will also be streamed on the NCAA Women's Basketball Facebook Live page.
The Stags are coming off their best offensive performance of the season by netting a season-high 72 points and connecting on a year's best 13 3-pointers in a 72-65 victory over Canisius on the annual Play 4 Kay contest.
Fairfield led by as many as 13 points in the final minutes of the third quarter before Canisius made their fourth quarter run. The Griffs were able to shrink the deficit down to four points on several occasions and even got as close as three in the final minute. The Stags were able to answer every basket by going 4-for-5 from 3-point range in the fourth quarter and hit all eight of their final free throws.
Katie Armstrong had the best shooting night of her career as she hit all four of her long range attempts and went 7-for-9 from the floor.
Sam Kramer controlled the offense with a career-high eight assists.
Casey Foley led the defensive attack against Canisius, tallying a game-high five steals, the third-straight game she has reached that number
Foley is the first Stag since Christine Fryer accomplished that feat during 11/26 - 12/8/1995. Fryer recorded five steals against Northern Arizona, 10 against Central Connecticut and six against Lehigh.
The last Stag to record even record five or more steals in back-to-back games was Marybeth Chartier during the 2001-02 season.
Niagara enters play off to their best MAAC start since the 2004-05 season, going 7-4 through the first 11 conference games.
An overtime win over the Stags propelled Niagara to a 4-1 span over the next five games before being defeated by Quinnipiac in their last time out. In that last meeting, the Stags had to rally late as they trailed by five with under one minute to go.
Casey Foley made it a one possession game as she connected on her 100th career 3-pointer.
Rachel Hakes stepped up on the defensive end by drawing a charge to give the Stags the possession back.
Sam Kramer would hit the game-tying layup with three seconds left to force overtime.
Niagara's leading scorer Jai Moore had the decisive basket with a 3-point play with under four seconds left in overtime.
The Stags will hit the road for their next contest to take on Siena on Valentines Day on Thursday at 7pm.
