FAIRFIELD, Conn. – What a difference a couple of weeks can make. After falling numerous times late in the game during the first half of the conference season, the Fairfield University Women's Basketball team is finding out what it takes to come out on top in close games, and their victory over Niagara was one perfect example. Casey Foley hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:30 left in the game and the Stags played inspired defense on the game's final possession to take a 55-54 decision over the Purple Eagles.
 
"I went into the locker room and I told the girls that was the most locked in defense we played," Khadidiatou Diouf said. "When I got that rebound I was like 'I'm holding this or I'm giving it to someone on our team. The horn went off and everyone was happy. It was a close win but it's a W and we will take it."
 
Diouf grabbed that final rebound after a Niagara missed lay-up with two seconds left. That board was the 13th of the game for the redshirt senior, as she recorded her second double-double of the season.
 
"We just want to prove to ourselves that we're getting better as a basketball team," Head Coach Joe Frager said. "The way the league is set up on any given night you have to be ready to play every single time out. We're just trying to get incrementally better from here until the end of the year and hopefully we could be playing some good basketball in March."
 
The Stags, who have won four of their last six contests, trailed by four with just over three minutes to play after an Emerald Ekpiteta basket put the score at 54-50 in favor of the Purple Eagles. Lou Lopez-Senechal responded with a jumper to pull the Stags within one possession. Foley would connect on her third 3-pointer of the night to put the Stags ahead 55-54, and the Fairfield defense clamped down as Niagara missed their final three shots.
 
The Stags defense played their most inspired in that fourth quarter as they held the Purple Eagles to an 18 percent shooting mark (2-for-11) as they hit just one of their six attempts from behind the arc. Coming into this game, Fairfield's MAAC opponents were shooting over 61 percent from behind the arc in the game's final period.
 
Fairfield had to rally after trailing by as many as eight in the second half as Niagara jumped out to a 37-29 advantage in the third quarter. Diouf would start an 11-0 Fairfield run with a jumper, the longest run of the game for the Stags. Katie Armstrong would hit a jumper on the next possession and Lopez-Senechal would bring the energy from the defensive end with a steal and a coast-to-coast lay-up. Foley would score the next five points for the Stags, who hit all five of their field goal attempts during the run.
 
Lopez-Senechal led the team with 13 points on 6-for-8 shooting and converted all five of her shot attempts from inside the 3-point arc. Foley and Sam Kramer tied for the team lead as they both dished out six assists. The Stags tied a season-high by forcing 22 turnovers, the second time in three games they have reached that number.
 
The Stags will be back in action on Valentine's Day when they travel to Siena to take on the Saints on Thursday at 7pm.