FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Meghan Andersen connected on a key fourth quarter basket to break a tie game and then hit two crucial free throws in the closing seconds, helping the Fairfield University Women's Basketball team to a 77-74 win over Fordham on Sunday, their fifth-straight win. Janelle Brown led a trio of Stags in double figures with 21 points followed by Andersen's 18 and Kaety L'Amoreaux chipping in 16. With the win, the Stags improve to 7-1 on the season, their best start since the 1983-84 campaign.
 
"I'm proud of our toughness down the stretch," Head Coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis said. "I think it's a great game leading into conference to have to tough out a win and show some grit. I thought we had a ton of different people step up in different times. "Nellie throughout the course of the game, Kaety early, and Meg late. We had a lot of different people contribute on the boards. I'm happy it was a complete team win."
 
The Stags would lead for all but 37 seconds in the contest after rattling off the first eight points of the game. Fordham would claw back and grab the first of their two leads of the afternoon on a Taylor Donaldson bucket at 3:59 in the first quarter.
 
Fairfield would erase their deficit 17 seconds later on a Brown 3-pointer to put the score at 15-13. The Stags would lead for the next 30 minutes of game time and build their lead to as many as 11 after shooting 62 percent in the second quarter.
 
Brown was at the forefront of that offensive barrage, hitting seven of her eight shot attempts in the first half.
 
Fordham would stay within striking distance by netting 25 points in the third quarter and actually grab the lead on a Mandy McGurk 3-pointer at the 5:35 mark of the final quarter.
 
Once again, the Stags would quickly erase that advantage with Andersen hitting a bucket 12 seconds later. The freshman came up big down the stretch by tallying 10 of her 18 points in the final five minutes. She would record the team's final field goals but her biggest points came with one second left in the game, drilling both of her free throw attempts to increase the lead to three.
 
"She's incredibly poised," Coach Thibault DuDonis said. "That's how she is every day, she doesn't get too high or too low. She plays a lot wiser than a freshman."
 
Fordham would have a chance to tie the game but Emy Hayford's off-balanced three was off the mark.
 
Brown led the Stags in scoring with 21 and also led the passing attack with a season-high eight assists. Kendall McGruder finished second on the squad with four helpers against just one turnover.
 
Andersen led the Stags with six rebounds. Karly Fischer also played crucial minutes down the stretch and finished with six points and five rebounds.
 
With the win, the Stags advance to 7-1 on the year, marking their best eight-game start in 40 years. Fairfield also defeated an opponent from their sixth different conference.
 
Fairfield will look to beat their seventh different conference, and their most important one to date, when they open MAAC play against Mount St. Mary's on Saturday at 2pm.