LOUDONVILLE, N.Y., - The Fairfield University Women's Basketball team dug deep, fought hard, and held on as they ran their winning streak to 21-straight games with a 71-67 gut check victory at Siena. Three Stags reached double-figures with Meghan Andersen and Janelle Brown tying for the team lead with 19 points. The win brings Fairfield's record to 23-1 overall including a perfect 15-0 in the MAAC. They have also posted 13 road wins, tying for the most in the country.
 
"We knew that was going to be a tough game and it's good for us to be tested," Head Coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis said. "I'm proud of how our toughness showed up in a lot of different ways. Whether it was rebounding the ball, making some difficult catches, or digging in on defense to get stops when we needed them. We probably could have done a better job at different times but I'm proud of how we gutted this one out against a really tough team."
 
For the second-straight game, the Stags (24-1, 15-0 MAAC) had to battle back from a halftime deficit as they trailed by one heading into the locker room. Fairfield had to make clutch shots just to make it a one-point game as Andersen swished through a big 3-pointer with 1:20 left in the period. Kaety L'Amoreaux also drove the paint for a layup with 11 seconds remaining to close out the stanza.
 
Andersen would continue her hot-shooting by connecting on back-to-back 3-pointers to open the second half and give the Stags a five-point advantage.
 
Siena would take the lead back twice in the third quarter, with the last time coming on an Elisa Mevius layup to put the score at 50-49 at the 3:05 mark.
 
The Stags answered back 10 seconds later on an Andersen bucket, and the Stags would not trail again. In fact, Fairfield went on a 12-0 run spanning into the fourth quarter to climb to a double-digit lead.
 
The Saints cut the deficit to four on two different occasions, including inside the final minute for the 71-67 final score.
 
"We're going to get everybody's best shot," Coach Carly said. "We've got some great upper-class leadership with Nellie (Brown), Iza (Nicoletti-Leite), and (Lauren) Beach. They have really rallied us together and done a great job at keeping us poised. But we also have Emina, Nicole, and Kendall and a lot of good voices to help us through adversity."
 
Andersen and Brown tied for the team lead with 19 points with Andersen swishing through five 3-pointers. Brown filled out the stat sheet with five rebounds, four assists, five steals, and a block. L'Amoreaux joined the duo in double-figures with 14.
 
In her return to Siena, Emina Selimovic tied for the team lead with eight rebounds with Nicole Gallagher also reaching that mark.                                  
 
Siena's Teresa Seppala led all scorers with 29 points on 9-for-17 shooting.
 
The Stags will look to clinch the regular season title when they host preseason favorites Niagara on Saturday at 2pm.