ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – The 25th-ranked Fairfield University Women's Basketball team advanced to the semifinal round in the 2026 Air Force Reserve MAAC Championships with a 69-53 victory over seventh-seeded Sacred Heart on Friday. With the win, Head Coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis recorded the 100th career victory, becoming the fastest coach in MAAC history to reach that feat in just 126 games.
 
"I'm proud of our team for getting that done," Coach Carly said. "It's not easy to play a team twice in about a week so I thought we had a lot of focus coming into this. They did a great job of applying some adjustments that we had coming into this game. I'm proud of our leadership to carry us through. We had a great offensive start but we knew we needed to tighten it up a little bit defensively."
 
The Fairfield (26-4) defense locked down the Pioneers, holding Sacred Heart to single-digit points in both the second and third quarters. Sacred Heart only made six field goals during that span, going 6-for-29 from the field shooting just 21 percent.
 
Fairfield also forced as many shot clock violations (three) as Sacred Heart 3-pointers. That continued a constant theme of the Fairfield defense who have allowed just 28 triples in the team's last 12 wins. Fairfield opponents are shooting under 17 percent from deep during that span.
 
On the offensive end, the Stags took the lead on a Janelle Brown layup in the first quarter, an advantage they would not relinquish. The lead would be extended to 13 on a Meghan Andersen 3-pointer and boosted to 15 on a pair of Brown free throws.
 
Fairfield ended the third quarter on a 9-0 run which was highlighted by a Cyanne Coe traditional 3-point play.
 
Kaety L'Amoreaux led the way with a game-high 21 points, the 13th time this season she has reached 20 or more points in a game. She raised her season total to 558 tying Katie Cizynski for the fourth-most in a season in program history.
 
Andersen followed with 16 points on 7-for-11 shooting. She also swished through two 3-pointers, bringing her season total to 85, the second-most in a season, and her career number to 219, the third-most by a Stag.
 
With their eight 3-pointers, the Stags have reached 349 triples this season, and are now one shy of becoming the 22nd team in NCAA Women's Basketball Division I history to swish through 350 in a campaign.
 
With the win, the Stags advance to the semifinal round for the 27th time in program history and the fifth time in the last six seasons.  
 
Fairfield will play the winner of Merrimack and Mount St. Mary's on Sunday at 2:30pm.