FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University Women's Basketball team neared 90 points as they downed the reigning Patriot League Champions Lehigh in an 88-60 home opening victory at Leo D. Mahoney Arena. Meghan Andersen led a quartet of Stags in double-figures as she reached the 30-point plateau for the second-straight game.
 
"I like how we put two sides of the ball together," Head Coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis said. "We've harped with this team being a two-way team. Between our defensive effort and our 24 assists to 10 turnovers, we put two sides of the ball together."
 
The Stags (2-0) out-scored the Mountain Hawks in every quarter including a 41-27 margin in the second half as they allowed just six field goals in the final 20 minutes.
 
Fairfield would lead 36-30 with 3:42 left in the first half before build an 11-3 run which featured a 3-pointer by Jillian Huerter and eight-straight points by Andersen to close out the half with a 14-point lead.
 
Lehigh got as close as seven in the third quarter before Fairfield extended their lead with a 10-0 run ignited by back-to-back 3-pointers by Kaety L'Amoreaux and Andersen. The Stags would build their lead to as many as 30 with Christina Pham leading the way with six points in the final quarter.
 
Defensively, the Stags held Lehigh, a team who netted 88 points against Cincinnati, to just 33 percent shooting for the game and a 6-for-27 mark in the second half. The Mountain Hawks' leading scorer Whitney Lind, who dropped 26 against the Bearcats, went 1-for-9 against the Fairfield defense with three turnovers.
 
Offensively, the Stags were balanced with four double-digit scorers led by Andersen's 30. The junior road runner becomes just the second Stag to ever record back-to-back 30-point games and the first since Lou Lopez-Senechal in 2022. She is also now the only Stag in program history with four separate 30-point contests.
 
She filled out the stat sheet with a career-high six 3-pointers, a personal-best tying four steals, combined with six rebounds, three assists, and two blocks.
 
L'Amoreaux followed her with 16 points on 7-for-11 shooting while Pham dropped 11 with three 3-pointers in her collegiate debut. Coe recorded 10 points with a 5-for-7 mark and led the rebounding battle with eight boards.
 
The Stags shared the ball with 24 assists on just 10 turnovers. Pham led the way with six helpers with L'Amoreaux following with four.
 
With the win over the reigning Patriot League Champions, the Stags have now defeated 13 different conferences in the four seasons under Coach Carly.
 
Fairfield will now head to Las Vegas, Nev., to face South Florida out of the American and North Carolina from the ACC in the inaugural WBCA Challenge. Both squads picked up votes in the preseason Top-25 polls with the Tar Heels picking up a spot in the Top-25.
 
The Stags start their tournament play against South Florida on Thursday at 6pm EST.