BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Fairfield University Women's Basketball team will close out the non-conference portion of their 2021-22 schedule when they travel to Bloomington, Ind., for a meeting with No. 10 Indiana on Thursday night at 7pm. The Stags will be playing in their first game in eight days after their Monday night contest against Sacred Heart was postponed due to a positive CoVid-19 test in Sacred Heart's traveling party.
With Monday's postponement, the Stags will now play in just one game in an 18-day span before opening up conference play at home against Marist. To date, the Stags have tallied a 3-4 non-conference mark with their last win coming against Navy on Nov. 29.
Fairfield had three scorers in double figures in their last game at UMass with
Callie Cavanaugh and
Sam Lewis leading the way with 14 points. Lewis has connected on nine 3-pointers over her last two games where she is averaging 14.5 points per game. Despite averaging just 19.0 minutes per game, Lewis leads the conference in 3-pointers made per game (2.14) and 3-point shooting percentage (.319).
The MAAC's leading scorer
Lou Lopez-Senechal struggled early with foul trouble, committing two fouls in the first five minutes of the game. The senior was able to tally eight points in the fourth quarter but failed to reach double figures in scoring for the first time in her last 15 outings.
Rachel Hakes led the Stags with six assists and now ranks third in the country with 6.7 assists per game. She joins Iowa's Caitlin Clark as the only two players to rank in the top-5 in assists per game in each of the last two seasons.
Hakes also led the Stags in rebounding for the third-straight game. In her previous 79 games, Hakes led the team just four times.
The Stags will be meeting Indiana for the first time in 36 years or 13,487 days. Fairfield last played the Hoosier on Dec. 29, 1984 which was an 89-95 double overtime Stags win in Miami. Katrina Fields led the way for the Stags with 30 points and 22 rebounds.
Fairfield is currently undefeated in the state of Indiana, holding a 2-0 record in the Hoosier State with wins over IPFW and Butler. Indiana is one of three states that the Stags currently have an unbeaten record in: Texas (2-0) and Maine (2-0).
Indiana enters as the tenth-ranked team in the country with a 6-2 record. Five different players average double figures highlighted by All-American Honorable Mention Mackenzie Holmes with 16.5. The Hoosiers also average 5.3 3-pointers per game while shooting .364 from long range.
The Stags will next turn their attention to conference play when they take on Marist on Saturday, Dec. 18 at 2pm at Webster Bank Arena.
