FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University Women's Basketball team scored 38 points and shot 54 percent in the second half as they got back on their winning track with a 62-49 victory against Rider at the Leo D. Mahoney Arena. The offensive spark for the Stags came from their bench who scored a season-high 40 points led by a career-best 16 points from Mackenzie Daleba.
 
"I'm proud of how our team responded," Head Coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis said. "Coming off the loss on Thursday I think we responded with a defensive focus and we were able to get points in transition because we got stops and rebounds. Huge performance from Mackenzie Daleba off the bench, she gave us a huge lift when we needed it. I thought everyone was locked in for the win."
 
The Fairfield reserves would tally 40 points, the fourth-straight game the bench has scored 20 or more points, a stretch where they are averaging 28.3 points a game.
 
With the score tied at 24-24 at the half, the Stags' bench would provide the spark. Twenty eight of their 40 points came in the second half with Daleba tallying 11 in the last 20 minutes.
 
Fairfield's biggest deficit was only two points, a lead that was erased at the halftime buzzer as Jocelyn Polansky tied the game with a layup in the final second.
 
Fairfield would keep that momentum as they started the third quarter on a 16-5 run, which once again featured three 3-pointers from Kate Peek, the third time in the last four games she has hit three triples. Over those four games, Peek has been the Stags' best outside shooting threat, shooting 50 percent (9-for-18) from behind the arc.
 
Mimi Rubino would tally seven points during that third quarter run, finishing with 10 points, her third-straight game in double figures.
 
Daleba, however, was the biggest story off the bench, and helped the Stags ice the game with 10 points in the fourth quarter. She would record six of the team's first eight points of the quarter and her layup at the 5:30 mark gave the Stags their largest lead of the game at 21 points.
 
Over her last four game, Daleba is shooting 54 percent from the floor (13-for-24), while averaging 7.5 points and 6.0 rebounds.
 
Izabela Nicoletti-Leite came off the bench for the first time in her Fairfield career and stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, seven rebounds, and a career-high seven assists. She also had just one turnover as she controlled the offensive tempo.
 
With the win, the Stags improve their MAAC record to 9-4, placing them in fourth place in the conference.
 
Fairfield will hit the road again when they make the trip down I-95 to face league-leading Iona on Thursday night at 7pm.