WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – The numbers weren't pretty, but the only numbers that matter are the ones on the scoreboard and at the end they read 40-39 in favor of the Stags. The Fairfield University Women's Basketball team led for just four seconds on the night, but those were the only ones that mattered as Sam Kramer swished through the game-winning 3-pointer with 3.8 seconds on the clock leading the Stags to the one-point victory. Fairfield pulled out the victory despite shooting a season low 26 percent while making just 15 field goals.
 
"We told the kids that at this stage of the season everyone knows each other," Head Coach Joe Frager said. "A lot of times it comes down to intangibles. Who's going to dive for a loose ball? Who's going to control the boards? Who's going to make the big shots? Sam was struggling the whole game but came up huge for us at the end by making that three."
 
The Stags would be in no position for Kramer's last seconds heroics if it wasn't for Katie Armstrong who tallied a game-high 22 points, and at one point responsible for 20 of the team's 27 points.
 
Armstrong hit her biggest shot of the game, swishing through a 3-pointer to tie the game at 37-37. That bucket gave Fairfield their first tie since the start of the game. Monmouth would have two chances to ice the game from the free throw line but split both chances. In total, Monmouth would go 10-for-21 from the charity stripe.
 
Trailing by two with less than 10 seconds left, Kramer got the ball at the top of the key and connected on the eventual game-winning bucket.
 
Kramer, like most of the Stags team besides Armstrong, struggled shooting the entire game as she was just 1-for-9 from the field before the biggest basket of the game.
 
The Stags' offense struggled mightily in the first half shooting just 20 percent as they connected on only six of their first 30 shots. That stretch included a 10-0 Monmouth run to start the game over the first five minutes as the Stags also failed to secure a rebound during that stretch.
 
Armstrong was the reason the Stags remained in striking distance as she netted 11 of the team's 15 first half points including their first eight of the game. Armstrong hit back-to-back 3-pointers to get the Stags within four at 10-6, but that would be the closest the Stags would get in the half.
 
After climbing back to a five point deficit at the end of the first quarter, the Stags missed seven of their first eight shots of the second quarter, with the only make being another Armstrong 3-pointer. In total, the Stags shot just 13 percent (2-for-16) in the second quarter, but only trailed by eight going into the half.
 
Fairfield would shoot themselves out of that slump a little bit in the third quarter, at one point hitting five of six shots from the field. Once again, Armstrong was the highlight of that run scoring six of the team's 10 points in that stretch. Fairfield would cut the deficit to just one at the end of the third quarter as Lou Lopez-Senechal hit a fadeaway jumper and the Stags kept Monmouth out of the scoring column for the final three minutes.
 
Fairfield struggles continued after Lopez-Senechal's basket as they missed 13-straight buckets including their first nine of the fourth quarter. Rachel Hakes broke the Fairfield scoring drought with a pair of free throws, Fairfield's first points in nearly eight minutes.
 
Lopez-Senechal would snap Fairfield's field goal drought a 3-pointer at the three minute mark, the first Fairfield field goal in the fourth quarter. Despite their struggles, Lopez-Senechal's long range shot cut the Monmouth lead to one possession at 37-34, leading to Armstrong and Kramer's heroics.
 
Armstrong shot 8-for-22 from the field and finished with a game-high 22 points, her third-straight game in double figures. The rest of the team went 7-for-36 from the field with Kramer and Lopez-Senechal tying for five points.
 
The Stags extend their conference record to 9-3 and will next return home to challenge Iona in Fairfield's Play 4 Kay game at Alumni Hall on Saturday at 2pm.