March Madness is in the air, and the women’s basketball team would like to be a part of. To do so they must win the MAAC championships, which will be played in Trenton, NJ this weekend.

The Stags, ranked sixth, will see first round action against ninth seeded Rider. The Stags swept the Broncs in the regular season. However one of the wins was in overtime.

“We need to handle their pressure defense and stop their three-point attempts,” said head coach Dianne Nolan. “Traditionally, if you’re able to do that, we should be able to shut them down.”

Fairfield is not headed into the first round over confidant. “This is playoff time. Anything can happen,” said forward Cathy Dash, ’05.

Manhattan and Siena, first and seconded seeded respectively, share the 2002-2003 MAAC regular season title. Both teams ended regular season with a 15-3 MAAC record. Manhattan clinched the number one seed because they had the edge over Siena in tie-breakers. They split with each other as well as with third ranked Niagara (13-5), but Manhattan had a better record against the forth seeded St. Peters (11-7).

Canisius, (9-9), take the fifth seed, followed by Fairfield, (9-9), Marist, (9-10), Loyola, (7-11), Rider, (3-15), and tenth ranked Iona, (0-18).

Last year Fairfield lost in the MAAC Semifinals to Siena. Fairfield was the number five-seed, and Siena was the number one-seed.

The Stags fell to Siena the year before that in the 2000-2001 MAAC tournament as well. That year the Stags made it to the finals, but Siena stood in their way of taking home the title.

Because of the bracket configuration this year, if Fairfield and Siena match up once more, it will be in the Semifinals on Saturday, March 8.

“We would have definitely liked to get the chance to knock them [Siena] off in the finals,” commented Dash. Although Stags would’ve liked to meet with Siena and seek revenge in the finals, according to Dash, they are gunning to play them in the semifinals just as much.

Manhattan has been granted two byes in the tournament and will commence play Saturday, March 8 in the semifinals. Saint Peter’s, the defending MAAC champions, has one bye and will play the winner of Canisius verses Ions.

On the other side of the bracket, Siena will play the Marist verses Loyola winner, and Niagara will see either Fairfield or Rider in second round.

The results of tournament games are always up in the air. Nolan commented that anything could happen once you enter the tournament regardless of a team’s regular season record. Dash agreed,

“Playoffs are a time when you really see the quality of teams and coaching staffs.”

The Stags have suffered through injuries much of this season, most notably, forward Schrene Isidora and center Katie Hammerer’s season ending injuries. Fairfield, however, has regrouped to win seven out of its last 10 games to end the regular season.

“I think everyone has become more comfortable in their roles,” Nolan said. “When the injury bug hit, people were forced into different positions and to do different things. They’ve become comfortable doing those things now.”

Three Fairfield players were recognized by the MAAC for their contributions to the team.

Dash and Janelle McManus were named to the All-MAAC third team, while Ivana Podrug was selected to the All-MAAC Rookie Team.

McManus, who became eligible after the fall semester after transferring from Boston College last year, made an immediate impact for the Stags offensively, averaging a team-high 13 points per game.

Dash wasn’t far behind with 12.5 points per game and 6.8 rebounds.

Podrug began to pick up the slack the second half of the season, and finished second on the team with six blocked shots.

Bottom line, come tournament time it’s “one and done,” Dash said, “and we don’t want that.”

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