FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University Women's Basketball team tied a season-high with 11 3-pointers made as they shot past visiting Marist for a 73-57 final score on Senior Night. The Stags were led by 18 points from graduate student Callie Cavanaugh, who was one of four student-athletes honored before the game as the program celebrated the Class of 2023.
 
The win, which was Fairfield's 10th in the MAAC this year, also clinches them a spot in the MAAC Quarterfinal round.
 
"I'm really happy for our seniors and happy for our team having a good performance on Senior Night," Head Coach Carly Thibault DuDonis said. "I'm happy to see us shoot the ball with confidence and we did a great job of executing and getting great shots and then locking in defensively in the second half."
 
The Stags' hot-shooting started in the very first period as the squad shot 4-for-6 from 3-point range, opening up a 20-16 lead after the first 10 minutes. Janelle Brown, Izabela Nicoletti Leite, Mimi Rubino, and Kate Peek all connected from behind the arc. The Stags would actually end the first quarter on a 10-0 run catapulted by back-to-back 3-pointers from Brown and Rubino.
 
Lauren Beach also made her presence felt in that 10-0 stretch as she converted two fast break layups in the final 30 seconds, including one that beat the buzzer to end the period.
 
Fairfield would open that lead up to 10 midway through the second quarter when Cavanaugh grabbed an offensive rebound and hit the putback to put the score at 32-22.
 
The Stags would shoot 60 percent from long-range in the second half and led by as many as 19. Fairfield connected on five of their seven attempts in the third quarter with Kate Peek hitting both of her attempts.
 
The Stags had three players in double figures, led by Cavanaugh's 18. With those 18 points, Cavanaugh moves up two spots in the career scoring list, ranking 30th all-time for the Stags with 1,044 points. Lauren Beach set a career-high with 14 points, going 5-for-7 from the field. Brown did not miss a shot in the game as she shot 4-for-4 from the floor, 2-for-2 from 3-point range, and 2-for-2 from the free throw line.
 
Mimi Rubino added nine points on 3-for-6 shooting and Peek also added nine while hitting three of her five long range attempts.
 
Fairfield also dished out 20 assists with Brown leading the passing attach with four.
 
The four student-athletes in Cavanaugh, Andrea Hernangomez, Jocelyn Polansky, and Mackenzie Martin honored on Senior Night accounted for 20 of the team's points as well as five assists, and nine rebounds.
 
"There's not enough words to describe what this class has meant to the program," Coach Thibault DuDonis said. "I'm sad that I only have a year with them this far. They're great humans, great people, they do things the right way, and I couldn't ask for a better senior class in year one for me."
 
Fairfield's win combined with Manhattan's loss at Iona, clinches a top-five seed for the Stags and a spot in the MAAC Quarterfinals.
 
The Stags will have a week off before hosting Saint Peter's in their final game in the inaugural season at the Leo D. Mahoney Arena on Thursday at 5pm.