FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University Women's Basketball team had their best defensive effort of the season as they forced 29 Iona turnovers and held the Gaels to 43 points in a 49-43 victory at the Leo D. Mahoney Arena. With the win, the Stags move to 2-0 in the MAAC before heading on their 11-day break for the holidays.
"I'm really proud of how our team set the tone defensively," Head Coach
Carly Thibault-DuDonis said. "We did a good job of getting stops and turning them over. They did a great job of paying attention to the gameplan and being disruptive and I thought that helped get our offense going. I'm really glad to be going into Christmas with a win."
The Stags, who entered the game second in the MAAC with 19.0 turnovers forced per game, caused a season-high 29 Iona miscues.
Andrea Hernangomez was one of the Stags at the forefront of that defensive effort with a team-high five steals.
Janelle Brown was right behind her with four steals, helping the Stags to 13 steals.
Offensively, two Stags reached double figures with
Callie Cavanaugh and Brown tying for the team lead with 12 points. Hernangomez orchestrated the offense with a career-high eight assists to bring her season total to a team-best 41 assists out of the post.
Eleven of those forced turnovers came in the first quarter, but the Gaels were still able to grab a one-point lead after the first 10 minutes.
Lauren Beach would connect on Fairfield's first shot in the second quarter with a 3-pointer that put Fairfield up 14-12.
Fairfield would not trail again in the game, opening up their lead to as many as 15 in the second half after an 11-0 run. Five different Stags got into the scoring column during that stretch with
Mimi Rubino capping the run with a 3-pointer in the corner.
The 43 points allowed was also the fewest that Fairfield has allowed this year and they have now surrendered an average of 46 points during the first two MAAC games.
Fairfield will take an 11-day break for the Christmas holiday and will next take the court in Emmitsburg, Md., when they take on the newest member of the MAAC Mount St. Mary's on Thursday, Dec. 29 at 1pm.
