ATLANTIC CITY, N.Y. – The top-seeded Fairfield University Women's Basketball team ended the game on a 7-0 run, doing just enough to survive and advance to the MAAC Semifinals with a 58-51 win over eighth-seeded Manhattan. Jillian Huerter led the Stags with a season-high 14 points while Meghan Andersen tallied 13 including four huge points down the stretch.
 
"I'm proud of our resilience down the stretch," Head Coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis said. "It didn't have to be pretty at this point in the season, you just got to find a way to win when it matters. So many people in our locker room stepped up in a big way, in the fourth quarter and down the stretch to get it done."
 
The Stags' (26-4) most important run came over the final 1:44 of the game as the Stags held Manhattan scoreless and ending the contest on a 7-0 run. The Jaspers had cut the Fairfield lead to just one point at 52-51 but Andersen responded with a step back jumper to extend the lead. Kaety L'Amoreaux iced the game with four free throws over the final 22 seconds.
 
Fairfield opened up a 10-point lead in the first quarter after an Emina Selimovic 3-pointer put the score at 15-5.
 
The Stags would also hold a nine-point advantage after two Huerter free throws made the score 25-16 with 3:56 left in the second quarter.
 
Fairfield, however, would be held scoreless for nearly eight minutes as the Jaspers went on a 15-0 run to take a six-point at the 6:47 mark of the third quarter.
 
Fairfield would then go on a 14-0 spurt themselves starting with a Huerter putback. Raiana Brown converted a layup to put the team within two and Sydni Scott hit a huge 3-pointer to regain the lead. Huerter would hit another layup, Scott drained another triple, and Cyanne Coe capped the run with a layup to put the Stags up 39-31.
 
The Stags would hold the lead the rest of the way but not without some tense moments. The Jaspers cut the Fairfield lead to two with 8:27 left in the fourth and within one-possession over the last 3:53.
 
Huerter finished with a season-high 14 points including back-to-back 3-pointers in the first quarter. Andersen had 13 with nine of those points coming in a crucial fourth quarter run. The MAAC Sixth Player of the Year Raiana Brown neared a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds with six caroms coming in the second half. L'Amoreaux orchestrated the offense with a game-high eight assists.
 
The Fairfield bench out-scored Manhattan's 31-11.
 
The team will now have a day off before competing in the MAAC Semifinals for the 35th time in program history taking on the winner of Mount St. Mary's and Marist on Thursday at noon.