FAIRFIELD, Conn. – For the second-straight game, the Fairfield University Women's Basketball team battled a top-two team in the MAAC but ultimately fell short to the Quinnipiac Bobcats 66-60 in overtime. The Stags had a chance to win the game at the end of regulation but Mimi Rubino's 3-point attempt hit off the rim at the buzzer. Janelle Brown led all scorers with 23 points while Callie Cavanaugh recorded her sixth career double-double with 20 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

"This definitely stings," Head Coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis said. "I was proud of how we fought to get back into the game, and despite not playing our best start to finish, we still had multiple chances to win. It's a game we will learn from, and I love how much resiliency our team showed. I'm excited to get back to work with this group next week and I'm looking forward to finishing the regular season strong."
 
The Stags were faced with their largest deficit of the game at 11 points with 6:21 remaining in the fourth quarter. Fairfield would answer that challenge by scoring the next 12 points of the game to take a 51-50 lead at the 1:22 mark.
 
Cavanaugh would contribute four points during that stretch with Andrea Hernangomez also drilling a 3-pointer in her first game back from injury. Brown had the two biggest buckets in the run with a driving layup to cut the deficit to two and then drilling a 3-pointer to grab that 51-50 lead.
 
Mikayla Morris would regain the Bobcat lead on the next possession, giving the Stags a chance in the final minute. Brown would draw a foul with seven seconds left and would split her free throws to tie the game at 52. Fairfield would force a turnover with five seconds left, setting up a buzzer-beating 3-point attempt by Rubino.
 
Quinnipiac would hit the first 3-pointer of the overtime frame on a Rose Caverly trifecta, and the Stags could not cut into that three-point deficit.
 
Fairfield led for 18 of the possible 20 minutes of the first half, grabbing their largest lead at 11 at the 6:03 mark.
 
Fairfield's defense forced 21 Bobcat turnovers, the 11th time this season they have forced 20 or more miscues in a game.
 
Brown led the defensive effort with five steals and also paced the passing attack with a team-high four assists. In her first game back in nearly a month, Hernangomez netted two 3-pointers and dished out three assists while picking up four steals.

Cavanaugh would tally 20 for the sixth time this season. She also surpassed the 1,000 point mark as a Stag becoming the 33rd player in program history to reach that milestone.

The five overtimes played this year is now the most ever in a single season in program history.
 
The Stags will embark on their trip to Western New York and start their swing with a Friday night game at Canisius at 7pm.