Sabra Wrice ’08 has been a major scoring threat all season for the Stags.

She is third in the MAAC in scoring, averaging 15.3 points per game.

But Monday night against Siena, in the Stags’ last regular season home game of the season, Wrice took her game to a different level.

By the time the final buzzer sounded and the Stags beat Siena 74-57, Wrice had poured in a school-record 36 points and passed the 1,000th point mark for her career in the process.

“Sabra is a scorer and we need her to do that,” Head Coach Dianne Nolan said. “A scorer takes a lot of pressure off other people.”

“Coach tells me that I’ve got to score and do all the little things that help us win,” Wrice said. “Go out there and play hard every time and everybody feeds off one another.

“So if they see me play hard, everyone else is going to play hard. And if I see someone playing hard, I’m going to play hard. A big game for me is a big game for everyone on the team because we all feed off each other.”

The team had plenty to feed off of when the Stags faced Siena on Monday.

Wrice was on fire, hitting her first six shots.

“I just hit my first shot, then I hit my second one, after the third or fourth one I was just like ‘I have no idea what’s going on, but I’m going to keep shooting’,” Wrice said.

Nolan was very excited about Wrice’s performance.

“She just had an outstanding performance. The first half, her arc, her shot selection, it was something fun to watch,” she said.

Wrice scored 19 points in the first half, recording her 1,000th career point with a minute to go on a mid-range jumper.

She is the 21st player in Fairfield women’s basketball history to reach that milestone, averaging 12.0 points per gamefor her career.

However, she wasn’t done there.

Wrice added another 17 points in the second half to finish the game with 1,017 career points and a single game-high of 36.

She broke Tricia Stacca’s 17-year-old record of 35 points on two free throws with 38 seconds left in the game.

“I had no idea [about having a chance to break the single game scoring record]. I didn’t even know what the record was. We just wanted to win, that was the only thing on my mind,” said Wrice.

Nolan was unaware as well, but luckily, she left Wrice in the game during the final seconds, giving her the opportunity to break the record.

“We were so focused on the win that we never even realized it,” said Nolan.

Wrice has always been the Stags’ main scoring threat, but she had never gone off on a hot streak like this before.

Wrice said she never had a game like this in college but was reminiscent of some high school games.

Cara Murphy ’07 realized how much having a scoring threat on the Stags helps the team.

“It makes everyone else’s life a lot easier when Sabra can shoot like that. It gets us hyped up and everyone can feed off the energy,” she said.


Stags vs. Siena

Season Series: Tied (1-1)

(Jan. 12, 52-57, Feb. 19, 74-63)

Stags’ Keys to Victory: Super Sabra: In the loss to Siena earlier in the year, Wrice struggled, scoring only seven points on three of 10 shooting. In the Stag’s win, Wrice scored a team-record 36 points. Fairfield is also undefeated when they score at least 70 points (11-0).

Transition Game: The Stags play better when they are able to force turnovers and grab rebounds. When they do, they are able to push the ball and come up with a favorable matchup. Look for guards Megan Caskin, Meka Werts, Wrice and forward Baendu Lowenthal to have the Stags running.

Saints’ Keys to Victory: Stay Fresh: The Saints have five players averaging at or near 30 minutes per game. They normally only go around eight deep at most. With the Stag’s depth, Siena will have to make sure they can keep up.

Frontcourt: Siena’s top players all reside in their frontcourt. Laura Menty is the second leading scorer in the MAAC averaging 15.4 points per game. Heather Stec is also a top rebounder, averaging 8.3 rebounds per game. The Saints will need to be successful against the Stag’s equally impressive frontcourt defense.

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