PROVIDENCE, R.I. – There were many reasons to celebrate for the Fairfield University Women's Basketball team in their season debut victory, and the team did just that. Head Coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis and graduate forward Callie Cavanaugh were met with cheers and spraying water bottles as they walked into the locker room following Fairfield's 62-52 road victory. Cavanaugh was one of the bright spots on offense with a career-high 36 points in giving Thibault-DuDonis her first-ever victory as a head coach.
 
"I'm really proud of our team," Head Coach Thibault-DuDonis said. "It was good to see us fight back from adversity in the third quarter, that's something we've talked about all preseason. Huge senior leadership by Callie and Andrea (Hernangomez) rebounded the ball very well. All of our guards stepped up and we had some really good senior leadership down the stretch. I'm proud of us, it's just the beginning for us and we'll continue getting better every single day."
 
Cavanaugh, one of two returning starters from last year's championship team, willed the Stags down the stretch by netting 16 points in the fourth quarter. The 36 points ties the second most by any Stag in a single game.
 
She started that dominance in the first half by accounting for 17 of the team's 28 halftime points. The graduate student connected on six of her first nine shots and was three points of a personal-best in just the first 20 minutes.
 
In her first collegiate start, and first outing with the Stags, Izabela Nicoletti-Leite filled the stat sheet with seven points and four assists in the first half. The guard also swished through the first long-range shot of the season to give Fairfield a nine-point lead in the first quarter.
 
Fairfield would lead by as many as 13 after an 11-1 run towards the end of the first quarter. Brown would cut that deficit to just seven by the end of the first half as the Stags shot just 28 percent in the second quarter.
 
That Brown momentum would continue in the third quarter as the Bears outscored the Stags 20-10 in the period to grab a 41-38 lead.
 
Cavanaugh would show her experience again in the fourth quarter hitting four-straight shots to give the Stags the lead back at 50-47. The last shot at the five-minute mark gave Cavanaugh her 30th point, becoming the 21st Stag to score 30 or more in a game.
 
Cavanaugh would score 10-straight points in the fourth quarter to reach the 32-point mark and keep Fairfield's advantage at three.
 
Brown's Mackenzie Leahy would swish a three pointer in the next possession to tie up the game at 52-52 with three minutes left.
 
After grabbing an offensive rebound, Andrea Hernangomez drew a shooting foul and converted one of two free throws to put Fairfield ahead 53-52. The Stags forced a turnover on the Bears' next possession before Cavanaugh swished through two free throws to put Fairfield up 55-52.
 
The graduate student would continue dominating the game by grabbing a defensive rebound and then converting a put-back opportunity to reach 36 in the game and put the Stags up five. Janelle Brown would hit four-straight free throws and Nicoletti-Leite hit the final two to ice the game and put the final score at 63-52.
 
Hernangomez led all players with 10 rebounds. Nicoletti-Leite dished out a career-high five assists. Janelle Brown also finished with a personal-best six helpers. Cavanaugh would connect on 14 of her 22 shot attempts in her historic night. She fell just three points shy of the program standard set by Sam Lewis in 2020.
 
Fairfield will now head to Penn State and continue their three-game road trip on Friday at 7pm.