ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – Defense wins championships and the Fairfield University Women's Basketball defensive effort won them their third-straight MAAC Title. The Stags held Quinnipiac to just 44 points on 17 made field goals completing their MAAC Championship three-peat with a 51-44 victory in the championship game. Offensively, the Stags were led by the MAAC Championship Most Valuable Player Jillian Huerter who finished with a team-high 16 points on four made 3-pointers. The win advances the Stags to the NCAA Tournament for the third-straight season and the fourth time in the last five years.
 
"Hats off to Quinnipiac, they are an incredible team," Head Coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis said. "They gave us all we can handle in every matchup this year. We knew it was going to be a dog fight and it was everything we thought it would be. We've really evolved throughout the course of the year. I love that we were able to rely on our defense night in and night out, especially in the last month of the season and certainly tonight."
 
The game marked the 11th time this season the Stags have held an opponent to fewer than 50 points. Quinnipiac, who entered as a top-10 team in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio dished out eight assists with 19 turnovers.
 
Quinnipiac took the lead twice early in the second quarter with Ella O'Donnell hitting a shot to put the game at 13-12. That would start an 11-0 Fairfield run which featured back-to-back 3-pointers from Huerter.
 
Meghan Andersen, who was also named to the MAAC All-Tournament team capped the run with a triple.
 
The Stags held a double-digit lead with 3:17 left in the game after Cyanne Coe skied for an offensive rebound and got the ball to Huerter who connected on a huge 3.
 
Coe was Fairfield's third member on the All-Tournament team recording a double-double in the final game with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Quinnipiac would go on a 7-0 run which set up some heart-pounding moments in the final minute, but the Stags got a huge defensive stop and got four free throws from Kaety L'Amoreaux and Sydni Scott.
 
The Championship win was Fairfield's third-straight and the seventh in program history. Fairfield, who entered the tournament as the 25th-ranked team in the country in the Associated Press (AP) Top-25 poll will now await their NCAA Tournament opponent on Selection Sunday, March 15 at 8pm.
 
It will be Fairfield's eighth appearance all-time in the Big Dance.