The women’s basketball team improved its chances of getting one of the top seeds in the MAAC conference over the weekend.
Wins over Niagara and Loyola have improved the Stags to 11-10 overall and 7-3 in the MAAC, putting Fairfield in third place, one game behind Iona.
The Stags beat the Purple Eagles 81-70 and swept the Greyhounds for the season with a 63-51 win.
Junior guard Sabra Wrice was a major force in each game. She scored a season-high 23 against Niagara and scored 19 against Loyola.
She is the Stags’ leading scorer with 14.8 ppg. The past two games have also raised her shooting percentage to 40.4 percent for the year.
Wrice credited her increase in scoring to the team’s practices throughout the week.
“We just practiced coming to the ball, curling to it. It helped me get into a rhythm, so when I’m shooting, I’m already in position to shoot and make the shot,” she said.
Head Coach Dianne Nolan recognized the importance of having a scoring threat on her team.
“Sabra is a scorer and we need her to do that,” she said. “The last two games her shooting percentage has been where it should be. A scorer takes a lot of pressure off other people.”
However, it wasn’t just Wrice who contributed to Fairfield’s wins.
Against Niagara, the Stags had five different players in double-digits and against Loyola, eight different players scored. Fairfield is able to go 10 deep in most games, giving them one of the deepest rotations in the league.
“We can wear on people,” said Nolan. “I don’t think too many teams in the conference have the 10, 11 people that we have; they’re interchangeable.”
The depth keeps players fresh, while also allowing Fairfield to play hard and fast constantly.
“The schedule is set up where you don’t have a lot of downtime between games,” said Nolan. “I think that really plays into our strength. I thought Loyola was tough at times; we want to run them because I didn’t think they could keep up.”
The frontcourt is one major beneficiary of this depth. The Stags were able to out rebound each opponent and held a 75-60 margin for the weekend.
“You can’t run without rebounds and that’s what we like to do,” said Nolan.
Sophomore Baendu Lowenthal had a double-double against Niagara with 12 points and rebounds. She came close again against Loyola, finishing with 10 points and eight rebounds.
Fairfield also played well on the defensive end of the court, holding both teams to a combined 39 percent from the floor.
Wrice had three steals in each game and sophomore guard Megan Caskin had four total.
Wrice and fellow junior guard Meka Werts led the Stags with 39 steals each for the season, giving Fairfield one of the league’s top backcourt duos defensively.
The frontcout played just as well with freshman Stephanie Geehan rejecting six shots, giving her 28 for the year.
“Defense is very important to us,” said Wrice. “We feel like everything starts from the defensive end. We get a stop and it helps us to focus on our offense more because we just need a stop.”
The weekend has put Fairfield in a good position to keep the third seed or possibly move up to the second seed if they can pass Iona.
The Stags return to action in Alumni Hall on Friday against Manhattan. The Jaspers are currently 6-14 overall and 3-6 in the MAAC.
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