BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The No. 25 Fairfield University Women's Basketball team will open up NCAA Tournament play when they take on the host and fourth-seeded Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday at 1:30pm on ESPN2. The MAAC Champion Stags are making their sixth appearance in the Big Dance and their second in the last three seasons.
 
The Stags enter NCAA Tournament play with an astonishing 31-1 record, representing the second-highest winning percentage in the country. Fairfield has won a conference-record 29-straight games which also places them second in the nation behind No. 1 South Carolina.
 
All that success has the Stags ranked 25th nationally in the Associated Press Top-25 Poll and are also receiving votes in the USA Today Coaches Poll. Fairfield is also slotted fourth in the College Insider Mid-Major Top-25 Poll and are one of three teams to receive a first-place vote.
 
Fairfield is coming off a MAAC Championship victory as they rallied from a 13-point second half deficit to overtake Niagara in overtime. MAAC Tournament MVP Janelle Brown led the Stags with 15 second half points and was one of three Stags in double-figures. The Stags held Niagara to just four points and one field goal over the final seven minutes of play, ending regulation on an 11-4 run.
 
Kaety L'Amoreaux and Meghan Andersen hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the deficit to one before Brown gave the Stags the lead for the first time with a layup at the 1:50 mark.
 
The Stags would hoist the MAAC Championship trophy for the fifth time in program history and the second time in the last three seasons. The win also caps a conference slate where Fairfield went 23-0 against MAAC opponents representing the most conference wins in the country.
 
Fairfield earned a No. 13 seed in the tournament and will open up NCAA Tournament play against the four-seed Indiana on Saturday. Fairfield owns a 15-1 record on the road this year and the 15 true road wins is also the most in the country. Additionally, their 14-straight road wins is ranked in the top-20 in NCAA history.
 
Fairfield's high-powered offense enters the tournament averaging 73 points per game, which is tops in the MAAC. The Stags have connected on 281 3-pointers which is the fourth most in MAAC history. Their 8.8 trifectas are the 14th most in the country.
 
The Stags' lockdown defense is also among the nation's best, allowing 54.1 points per game which is sixth in the nation. The Stags are also holding opponents to .356 shooting from the floor and .276 from the 3-point line.
 
Recently, Fairfield announced a contract extension with Head Coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis throughout the 2029-30 season. Coach Carly has guided the Stags through this historic season with a program-record 31 wins which is one shy of tying the conference record. For her success, she was the unanimous pick for the MAAC Coach of the Year and is one of five finalists for the inaugural Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year.
 
Four-seeded Indiana comes into the tournament ranked No. 14 in the AP Poll with a 24-5 overall record and a 15-3 mark in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers are led by All-American Mackenzie Holmes' 20.0 points and 6.9 rebounds per game while shooting 67 percent from the floor. All-Big Ten first teamer Sara Scalia adds 16.2 points per game and has connected on 95 made 3-pointers in her final season. The Hoosiers are also the most efficient team in the country, shooting 51 percent from the floor and 40 percent from three.
 
The winner of the game will take on the winner of the 5/12 matchup against Oklahoma and Florida Gulf Coast on Monday in the Round of 32.