ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – The third-seeded Fairfield University Women's Basketball team will open up their stay in the 2020 Hercules Tire MAAC Women's Basketball Championships when they face sixth-seeded Siena on Thursday at noon in the Quarterfinal round. The Stags will begin their quest for the program's fourth conference championship and their first since 1998.
 
The Stags secured the third seed in the tournament after attaining a 12-8 conference mark, the 12th time they have earned a top-five seed in the last 13 years. The Stags are led by a pair of All-Conference selections in Lou Lopez-Senechal and Katie Armstrong.
 
Lopez-Senechal was named to the All-MAAC First Team after leading the Stags with a 15.4 scoring average, a number that places fifth in the MAAC. She scored in double figures in 18 of 20 MAAC games with seven games of 20 or more points. She finished the regular season with a career-high tying 27 points against Niagara, a game where she set a personal best with six made 3-pointers.
 
She became the 34th Stag to be named to the All-MAAC First Team and the first sophomore since Fairfield Hall of Famer Gail Strumpf in 1999.
 
Armstrong earned a spot on the conference's Second Team after finishing with 13.9 points per game and a team best 7.1 rebounds. She ranked eighth in the conference in scoring and seventh in rebounds.
 
Fairfield enters play with a familiar road to success: defense and controlling the basketball. Fairfield enters play tied for second in the conference in scoring defense at 58.0 points per game. They have held nine conference opponents to 50 points or fewer, a stretch where they are 9-0.
 
Fairfield is also second in the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.04, a number that is 65th in the country. Sam Kramer ranks 25th in the country with a 2.28 assist-to-turnover ratio.
 
The Stags will be meeting Siena in the MAAC Championships for the 15th time in program history, their most against any other opponent. The two teams met eight times in a nine year span from 2005 to 2013, only not facing each other in 2010. The Saints earned a spot after a second half rally defeated Canisius 58-48 on Tuesday.
 
Fairfield will be playing their tenth Thursday game of the year, their most successful day of the week. The Stags are 8-1 when playing on Thursday, with their only setback coming against Rider at Alumni Hall. They are averaging 62.2 points per game and allowing just 56.1.
 
With a win, the Stags will advance to the MAAC Semifinals and face second-seeded Marist on Friday at 1:30pm.