COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Fairfield University Women's Basketball team saw another historic season come to an end as they fell to the sixth-seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish 79-60 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Meghan Andersen led the Stags with 21 points while reaching 1,500 points in her collegiate career.

"I'm really proud of the growth from June until now of this team," Head Coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis said. "We've thrown a lot of adversity at them intentionally to be prepared for this moment, and individually and collectively we've grown so much as a group. That's a great team in Notre Dame that certainly has the capability to go make a run in this tournament. So that is a great opponent that, you know, they did what they did as far as getting steals and converting those into some points."
 
The Stags battled Notre Dame to within a point over the first six minutes with a Jillian Huerter jumper putting the score at 11-10. The field goal was a part of a 5-0 run for Fairfield with the Fairfield defense holding the Irish without a field goal for three minutes.
 
Fairfield would get within striking distance again in the second quarter after back-to-back baskets from Meghan Andersen and Janelle Brown. Andersen would lead the Stags with nine points in the first half as Notre Dame led 34-26 going into the locker room.
 
The Stags found their 3-point shooting rhythm at the end of the third hitting three-straight 3-point attempts with Andersen, Huerter, and Sydni Scott all knocking down a triple.
 
The nation's second-leading scorer Hannah Hidalgo led Notre Dame with 23 points while also pacing the team with eight steals.
 
Fairfield finishes their 2025-26 campaign with a 28-5 overall record while winning their third-straight MAAC Championship and making their third-straight appearance in the Big Dance.
 
The Stags held one of the best offenses in program history, setting the program single-season standard with 2,476 points scored while also setting a conference record with 373 3-pointers made. Their 373 triples were the most in the nation and tied for the 11th most in Division I history.
 
That success helped the Stags to their highest seed ever in the tournament, grabbing an 11-seed this year. Fairfield was one of only three teams in the tournament to have won three-straight conference titles. Andersen became the 12th Stag all-time to reach 1,500 career points.
 
The Stags .888 winning percentage over the last three seasons ranked fifth in the country.