FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University Women's Basketball team will begin Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) play when they travel to Lawrenceville, N.J., to face the Rider Broncs on Friday at 6pm. The Stags are 29-15 in MAAC openers while winning six-straight. This will be the first time these two teams have opened up a MAAC slate since the 2013-14 season.
 
The Stags are coming off a successful 6-3 non-conference slate which featured five wins against teams who made a national postseason last year. Included in those victories were two 'Quad 1' wins, one of only seven teams in the national with at least two. Both of those victories came on the road as the Stags join UConn and Princeton as the only squads in the country with two road Quad 1 victories.
 
Fairfield's top-flight shooting has been the key to the team's success as the Stags lead the country with 13.0 made 3-pointers per game and rank second with a .411 3-point shooting percentage, trailing only LSU. The Stags hold two of the top-five 3-point shooting games in the country, making a program-record 19 against Richmond and 18 at Iowa.
 
Three Stags rank in the top-six in the MAAC in triples per game, led by Christina Pham's 3.0 which is the 19th highest in the country. Pham also ranks second among all freshmen in Division I with a .490 long-range percentage and third in threes per game.
 
Kaety L'Amoreaux finished the non-conference slate leading the team in points, rebounds, assists, and steals becoming one of only three players in the nation to lead their team in all four categories. She was a three-time MAAC Player of the Week while also earning USBWA National Player of the Week and All-Met weekly honors.
 
The Stags' win over Maine was Fairfield's first win over a team from the America East under Head Coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis. In her four seasons, the Stags have now picked up victories over 15 different conferences.
 
Fairfield, the back-to-back MAAC Champions, were picked to finish atop of the conference in the MAAC Preseason Poll after recording a 45-1 record against the conference in the last two seasons.
 
Rider enters the weekend with a 2-7 overall record with wins over Lafayette and LIU. Kristina Ekofo is the team's leading scorer with 12.8 points per game while Aliya McIver leads the team on the boards with 6.1 rebounds.
 
The Stags will have a quick turnaround and open up the home portion of their conference slate, hosting Merrimack on Sunday at 2pm.