BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – The Fairfield University Women's Basketball team had their best shooting night of the year as they shot 52 percent from the field in a 69-52 victory over Iona at Webster Bank Arena. With the win, the Stags improve their conference mark to an unbeaten 3-0 for the third-straight season.
 
"I'm extremely happy with this win," Head Coach Joe Frager said. "We came into the game shorthanded and we asked our players to rise to the occasion tonight and they did that. We knew we would have our hands full tonight and that showed in the first half. But in the second half we did a much better job with the execution and we stepped up and played much better defense."
 
Playing without two impact players in Sydney Lowery and Janelle Brown, the Fairfield starters combined for 67 of the team's 69 points with three student-athletes finishing in double figures. Lou Lopez-Senechal led the team with 22 points and was followed by 18 points by sharpshooter Sam Lewis and 16 by Callie Cavanaugh.
 
The Stags led for all but one second in the first quarter after Lewis started the scoring with a 3-pointer, the first of a season-high six long range shots for Lewis.
 
Iona would knock down three 3-pointers, all in the final minutes of the first quarter. The final one of those trifectas came from Olivia Vezalenos, which beat the first quarter buzzer and gave the visiting side a two-point lead.
 
The Stags would grab the lead late in the second quarter on a Lopez-Senechal 3-pointer that put the score at 25-23. Fairfield had struggled offensively up to that point as that trifecta snapped a streak of seven-straight missed shots for the Stags. That stretch was the only time Fairfield missed a shot during the quarter as they connected on all other five field goal attempts and would shoot 42 percent in the quarter.
 
The two teams would exchange baskets to end the half as layups from Cavanaugh and a nice drive by Rachel Hakes gave Fairfield a 29-27 lead going into the locker room.
 
Fairfield would extend that thin lead by netting the first eight points of the second half which included six-straight by Cavanaugh. Combined with their effort in the final minutes of the first half, the Stags would score 12-straight points by going 6-for-6 from the field in a five-minute span.
 
The Stags would continue that offensive momentum for the rest of the quarter as they shot 46 percent, hitting six of their 13 shots. Lopez-Senechal and Cavanuagh combined for 12 of the team's 15 points in the quarter. Fairfield would grab their largest lead of 12 points in the period.
 
Fairfield would have their best offensive performance in the fourth quarter, going 72 percent (8-for-11) from the field while netting 25 points and securing the easy victory. Lopez-Senechal added nine points in the final quarter, but it was the shooting performance of Lewis that sealed the win as she connected on three of her four long range attempts.
 
Lopez-Senechal tallied a game-high 22 points on 9-for-15 shooting. With her performance, Lopez-Senechal jumps three spots in Fairfield's career scoring list and now ranks 19th with 1,206 points.
 
Lewis went 6-for-12 from deep, out-shooting the entire Iona side who combined for four 3-pointers. Cavanaugh had an impressively accurate contest going 7-for-10 from the field for 16 points.
 
Hernangomez led the defensive effort for the Stags with a game-high 10 rebounds and two blocks. All five starters for the Stags grabbed at least five rebounds, besting all of Iona's players who had one player with five boards.
 
Fairfield will have a week off before taking the court against Saint Peter's on Thursday, Jan. 6 at 7pm at Webster Bank Arena.