FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The biggest matchup of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) season lived up to all the hype as the Fairfield University Women's Basketball team maintained their first-place standing in the conference with a 72-63 win over in-state rival Quinnipiac to boost their league mark to a perfect 10-0. The Stags have now won 33-straight games against MAAC competition, the second-longest streak in MAAC history. Four Stags scored in double-figures in the balanced, home win.
 
"I saw resiliency particularly in the fourth quarter," Head Coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis said. "I was proud of how we dug in and got stops when we needed them, how we shared the ball in three of the quarters, and creating great shots for one another where it wasn't on just one individual to do the heavy lifting. We were able to find Cy [Coe], and Jill [Huerter], and Iza [Nicoletti Leite], and Kaety [L'Amoreaux]. They all shared the ball well and it was a complete team win."
 
The Fairfield (16-3, 10-0 MAAC) defense held Quinnipiac to just two field goals in the final 8:50 of the game to break a tied score, helping the Stags to outscore the Bobcats 20-11 in the fourth.
 
The thrilling matchup was back and forth for most of the contest with the largest lead of the game being 10 points, which Fairfield jumped out to in the first five minutes of the game. Kaety L'Amoreaux started the stretch with a 3-pointer and Kendall McGruder capped the run with a 3-pointer of her own to force a Bobcat timeout.
 
Quinnipiac would cut that deficit to just two in the final minute of the quarter. They would eventually take a four-point lead in the second after a 10-2 run which was capped by a Karson Martin 3-pointer.
 
Cyanne Coe, who tied for the team lead with 13 points on a perfect 6-for-6 shooting night tied the game with a 3-pointer and Izabela Nicoletti Leite swished through a trifecta to regain the Fairfield lead.
 
Fairfield built that lead to as much as seven in the third quarter after an Izabela Nicoletti Leite steal and fast break layup from L'Amoreaux at the 8:03 mark of the period. Quinnipiac would fight back again, tying the game with a Gal Raviv layup in the final minute to set up a thrilling fourth quarter.
 
The Stags broke the tie with another Nicoletti Leite 3-pointer with 7:29 left in the fourth and went on a 6-0 spurt that put them in front by seven after a Kendall McGruder layup.
 
The Fairfield defense would step up in the closing minutes, allowing just two Quinnipiac field goals in the final eight minutes, forcing four Quinnipiac turnovers.
 
The Bobcats shot just 25 percent in the fourth after shooting 60 percent in the first 30 minutes.
 
The Stags had a balanced scoring effort with Coe, Nicoletti Leite, L'Amoreaux, and McGruder all reaching double-figures. Fairfield, who entered the game as the league's best 3-point shooting team connected on 12 tonight. Nicoletti Leite went a perfect 3-for-3 from behind the arc while McGruder swished through three of her five attempts.
 
Coe went a perfect 6-for-6 from the field and is now shooting 94 percent over her last three games. She is now shooting 71 percent for the season and 77 percent in MAAC games.
 
Nicoletti Leite added five assists to bring her Fairfield career total to 302, becoming the 19th Stag to ever reach the 300-assist milestone.
 
The Stags are back in action on Saturday afternoon when they host Iona at 2pm at Leo D. Mahoney Arena.