There have been a lot of incredible and historic sports seasons at Fairfield University over the years. This second installment relives the 1987-88 women's basketball team come-from-behind win in the MAAC Tournament and berth to the NCAA Tournament.

by Chris Elsberry
 
That championship feeling
 
No one gave them a chance. That's what Nolan remembers about the championship game at the Westchester (N.Y.) Country Center. LaSalle was the regular season MAAC champions. They had already beaten Fairfield twice, including a 19-point spanking in Philadelphia. They were 25-3 and ranked 20th in the Associated Press women's basketball poll.
 
"There were people coming up to me after we defeated Holy Cross, congratulating me on a great season," Nolan said. "No one thought we were going to win."
 
The Explorers were loaded. That season, LaSalle had senior guard Cheryl Reeve – currently the head coach of the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx – who averaged 12.5 points a game. Junior center Tracy Sneed, voted the MAAC Player of the Year that season, averaged 16.7 points. Sophomore guard Shelia Wall averaged 10.2 points and junior guard Kelly Greenberg averaged 7.9 points. They scored 73.1 points a game and allowed just 60.2.
 
And they came into the game riding a 12-game winning streak.
 
"No one gave us a chance," Nolan said.
 
After holding the Stags to just 25 percent shooting from the floor, 18 first half point and forcing those 14 turnovers, LaSalle went into the locker room celebrating Snyder's 3-pointer that had given the Explorers a 29-18 lead.
 
"They hit a 3-pointer right before halftime and I remember thinking we're in trouble," Sacca said. "But then, there's no substitute for seniors and leadership. We had both. I remember listening to Dana and Tasia and Trish at halftime and thinking I'm going to follow their lead."
 
"I didn't have a good first half at all," Pellegrino said, managing just two points. "And my thinking was to keep going at them. All season long we'd never given up and we weren't going to do that now. We were in the mindset, chip away … chip away."
 
"I just remember Dianne telling us to play hard and rely on each other," Barrett said. "Just keep working together as a team and finish the mission we set out to do."
 
Pellegrino hit a three-pointer to open the second half, getting Fairfield back within striking distance but Fairfield could get no closer over the next 13 minutes. LaSalle maintained a comfortable lead, 47-39 with 6:45 to play. Both Mikelic and Sacca were on the bench with four fouls but Terry Voegler and Shanna Lewis stepped up and gave Nolan some solid defense and more than enough toughness.
 
"We really picked up our defensively intensity," Mikelic said. "We buckled down and said, 'this is our time.' Dana … she refused to lose. We picked our defensive intensity and suddenly, they couldn't do anything. Dana and Tasia were scoring, Tricia was rebounding, we were getting into transition, getting some steals and they didn't know what to do. I think they were stunned by our intensity."
 
Even Turkalo, normally a quiet, lead-by-example kind of player, got caught up in all the comeback spirit, according to Pellegrino.
 
"Tasia was a workhorse. She wasn't always the most vocal, but she was vocal when she needed to be," Pellegrino said. "Late in the game, LaSalle was setting up an out-of-bounds play and Tasia was guarding Tracy Sneed and I heard Tasia say to Tracy Sneed something to the effect of … 'Yeah, Player of the Year … let's see it.' To hear Tasia say that, it was so out of character, but it shows the mentality we all had."
 
"I don't remember saying that but if Dana says I did, I believe it," Turkalo said.
 
Trailing 50-44 with a little over three minutes left, Pellegrino scored five straight points to pull Fairfield within 50-49, setting the stage for the most unlikely of heroes.
 
"Terry Voegler was tremendous," Mikelic said. "I can still see her making those two baskets in my mind."

Down a point with just over two minutes left and Mikelic on the Stags bench after fouling out, it was Voegler that gave Fairfield the lead at 51-50, scoring on a short jumper in the lane. 
 
"I remember she (Voegler) was probably the most improbable hero of that championship," Sacca said. "That's the beauty of college sports. Normally, she's probably not even in the game at that point but Lisa had fouled out, so she was in there."
 
On the next possession, LaSalle looked to take the lead but, with Pellegrino pressuring Reeve, Sacca stepped out and cut off the passing lane and that forced LaSalle into a crucial turnover. With 1:16 left, Sacca scored to make to 53-50 Fairfield. Another Explorers turnover gave Fairfield back the ball and Pellegrino threw a long pass to Voegler, breaking for the basket and she scored to finish a game-ending 11-0 run for Fairfield.
 
"Dana hit a couple of threes to get us closer and then we started to turn them over," Sacca said. "Once that started, they kept turning the ball over and the momentum swung to our side and they uncharacteristically got tight and we were flying. The rest is history."
 
"It was one of the most exciting endings to a game that I've ever been involved with," Pellegrino said.
 
"I think about those final minutes all the time," Nolan said. "We didn't fold, we got dialed in and became possessed. They were on fire. They believed in each other."
 
And the post-game celebration?
 
"Oh my God, we were celebrating right in front of the LaSalle bench," Pellegrino said, who averaged 16.0 points and 2.8 assists. "When I finally looked over at them, they were just sitting there, waiting for us to get in line to say, 'good game.'"
 
Pellegrino led the way with 18 points – 16 coming in the second half – while adding three assists and three steals. She finished the tournament with 48 points and 11 assists to earn MVP honors. Voegler and Trish Barrett each scored eight points while Sacca and Turkalo both had seven points and Sacca had 13 rebounds.  Sacca, with 40 points and 37 rebounds, was named to the all-tournament team.
 
"We stayed over in Westchester that night," Nolan said. "I remember we pushed Zach (Nolan's young son) up and down the hotel hallway in a laundry cart. It was crazy."
 
The Big Dance
 
The Stags didn't have to travel far to face its first-round NCAA opponent, making the hour-long bus ride over the Whitestone Bridge to Queens, N.Y. to face the St. John's Express.
 
"I remember watching the draw and as a freshman, I didn't know what to expect," Mikelic said. "No one had ever been to the NCAA's before. It was all new."
 
"It's not like we didn't want to win," Barrett said, who averaged 7.8 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists.  "It was like it was already done (winning the MAAC). Whatever happens in the NCAA's, happens. We were there but we weren't 'there.' "
 
Said Pellegrino, "I always thought LaSalle was the high point and I never really thought about what was next. We had just won the MAAC and now we have to get ready for the NCAA's? The MAAC was our goal and now we had to do this?"
 
At halftime, Fairfield trailed 43-32 but the Stags rallied to pull within 61-53 with 7:32 to play. That was as close as they got. Sabrina Johnson, a New Haven (CT) product, scored 20 points, eight coming in a 12-3 burst that gave St. John's a commanding 73-56 lead with 4:23 to go. 
 
"I don't think they were that much better than us, but we might have gotten a little too caught up in playing in the NCAA's. I don't think we came out as strong as we could have," Mikelic said. "We might have playing back on our heels rather than going after it. We dug ourselves a hole and never got out."
 
"They were better than us," Sacca said flatly. "They had that kid from New Haven and she was fantastic. We battled them for a while. There was no (MAAC) hangover, they were just better, and (Johnson) was great."
 
There is a photo, black and white, of the Fairfield celebration after beating LaSalle for the MAAC title. Both Sacca and Turkalo have their arms raised high, preparing to hug each other. Pellegrino is turning to embrace Barrett, while off to the right, Voegler is starting to run off the court, heading to kiss her boyfriend, as the story goes. It is a moment forever frozen in time and one that Pellegrino still remembers clear as day.
 
"Time files … it absolutely boggles my mind," she said. "It was an amazing feeling and to experience it? To look at that picture, you see all our hands in the air and we're all looking around to hug somebody and celebrate … I'm getting chills thinking about it. It was awesome."