Stephanie Geehan ’10 leapt up, controlled the tip and sent the ball toward point guard Megan Caskin ’09. Caskin moved the ball around and eventually a pass from Sabra Wrice ’08 found its way back to Geehan who hit a jumper.
On the next possession, Wrice picked off a pass from Maine’s Emily Rousseau and dribbled down the court but missed a layup in traffic. However, Geehan was again in the middle of the action as she pulled down the offensive rebound and fed Wrice for an open three.
The women’s basketball team has been winning all season with strong defense, rebounding and overall solid team play. The Stags improved to 6-1 Sunday with a win over Maine in Alumni Hall, three days after dropping its first game of the season to Villanova.
“I think they [the players] are starting to develop that mind-set that, irregardless of who we are playing against, we are playing to win,” said Head Coach Joe Frager. “We’re not going to win them all; we’ve got some tough teams ahead of us, and we’ve played some tough teams, but a month ago, if we could have signed up for 6-1, we would have said, ‘Where’s the pen?'”
Baendu Lowenthal ’09, who is averaging 16.1 points per game along with 7.3 rebounds, agreed.
“We go into every game looking to win,” she said. “If you come out expecting to win every game, you expect your record to be 6-1.”
Lowenthal has teamed with Geehan, who is averaging 8.9 points per game and 9.3 rebounds per game, to form an imposing frontcourt duo.
The Stags’ defense has also been a key to the team’s success. Fairfield is allowing 52.9 points per game and has been holding its opponents to 37 percent shooting from the floor and only 24 percent from beyond the arc.
“If we are playing good fundamental defense, if we are doing the little things that we practice, and if we have trust in each other … I think you are going to be a good defensive team,” said Frager. “I think you have to have that trust, and that trust is starting to build on the defensive end of the floor with these guys.”
With MAAC play starting soon, Frager is looking for the team to build off of its success.
“I think we can improve on everything,” said Frager. “We need to become a better defensive team than we are right now. I would like us to be more consistent with our offensive execution.”
The defense can be inconsistent as well, with the Stags allowing an average of 31.4 points in the second half as opposed to 21.4 in the first.
The offense is led by Caskin, who is averaging 4.7 assists per game along with 4.7 rebounds per game. She is putting up those numbers while playing 35.3 minutes per game. She was on the court for the entire Villanova game.
“You’ve got to win the games you can win as they present themselves,” said Frager. “When you’ve got an opportunity to win a game, you need to play a starter an extra four or five minutes; you’re going to do that.
“Until we get other players who step up and show us they deserve to play significant minutes, we can’t put guys out there just for the sake of doing that. We have some young players who still need to learn before we can trust them to be in there 18 minutes a game.”
Fairfield begins its MAAC play Thursday against St. Peter’s on the road. The Stags then return to Alumni Hall to face Marist on Sunday.
Marist has been receiving votes for the AP Top 25 Poll and made the Sweet 16 last season. However, Frager downplayed the significance of the game, choosing instead to take the season one game at time.
“That’s not coach speak at all,” said Frager. “A league game is a league game. Marist will be a huge game when we get to it.”
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