FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University Women's Basketball team will embark on their annual Western New York swing for a pair of conference games, starting with a meeting against Niagara on Thursday night at 7pm. The Stags are 42-22 all-time against the Purple Eagles and have won six of the last seven meetings.
 
The Stags are coming off one of their biggest victories of the season as they took down Marist 52-48 at Alumni Hall. The victory snapped a 10-game losing streak against the Red Foxes at Alumni Hall, a streak that spanned since Jan. 10, 2001.
 
Fairfield had to rally for their historic win after falling behind 21-8 after the first quarter and by 15 points after Marist connected on the first field goal of the second quarter. The Stags defense would lock down the top-ranked offense in the MAAC, out-scoring Marist 44-27 over the final three quarters. The Stags scored the first 10 points of the fourth to grab a double-digit lead, but Marist nibbled at the score and eventually made it a two-point game. Andrea Hernangomez, who had a big game off the bench, hit the biggest shot of the game with under 40 seconds left to make the Fairfield lead two possessions.
 
Lou Lopez-Senechal reached double figures for the 10th-straight game as she tied Sam Kramer with the team lead at 15. Kramer also hit Fairfield's final free throw to ice the victory.
 
Fairfield was swept for only the fourth time in their history in their last series in Western New York after a pair of close losses. All-time the Stags are 35-22 in Western New York, having swept the trip 10 times with their last instance coming during the 2011-12 season.
 
Niagara enters play after dropping three of their last four conference games to Rider, Siena, and Marist. Jai Moore is the team's best play maker as she is ranked fourth in the conference with 16.6 points per game. That number is nearly double the next closest scorer on the team in Emerald Ekpieta, who nets 8.9 per outing. Moore is averaging nearly 19 points in conference games with five 20-point outings in her last eight contests.
 
After a day off, the Stags will close out the season series with Canisius on Saturday at 2pm.