Six senior basketball players will play one final regular season game at the Arena at Harbor Yard on Monday night. Both the Men’s and Women’s teams will play at least one more time at the Arena, in the MAAC Tournament. In the second double header of President’s Day weekend, both teams will honor the accomplishments of their senior members on Senior Night.
The women’s team will play first at 4:45 p.m., with a ceremony honoring its players at 4:30 p.m. The Stags have three seniors, Guard Cara Murphy, Forward Candice Lindsey, and Guard Elise Young.
The Women’s team will take on Siena College, looking to move its 13-13 record back over .500. With a win the team will move to 10-6 in MAAC play and will clinch at least a fourth place finish. The Stags have two away games to finish out the season and a win in any of the final three games can clinch the fourth position.
Siena is 7-18 overall and 6-9 in the MAAC. The Saints played Fairfield closely in their matchup on Jan. 12, but lost at home 57-52. Forward Laura Menty scored 19 points for the Saints and the Stags will need to do a better job preventing her from scoring. Menty, a junior, averages 15.5 points per game, which is second best in the conference.
The Stags are coming off of a tough loss to Iona on Saturday, when turnovers and missed shots cost them a win and possibly chance at second place in the MAAC. To keep any hope for a second place finish alive, Fairfield will need to win against Siena. The Stags know they need to work harder to win.
“I would say foul shots and making shots. is what we need to improve on,” said sophomore forward Baendu Lowenthal. “And working together and playing together.”
Lowenthal averages 11.3 points and 6 rebounds per game. Junior guard Sabra Wrice, who grew up with Lowenthal, is the team’s leading scorer, averaging 14.5 points per game. She needs 19 points to become the 21st Stag to score 1,000 points in her career.
The men’s team will play its final regular season home game at 7:30 against Marist, with a ceremony preceding the game. Seniors Michael Van Schaick, Danny Ogelsby, and Marty O’Sullivan will be honored.
Fairfield will look to gain revenge against Marist, after losing by one point after a controversial foul was called as time expired the first time the two teams met on February 8th. The Stags (12-17, 9-7) will look to pick up their tenth conference win.
Marist is 12-4 in the MAAC and 21-7 overall. The Red Foxes are currently holding onto first place in the conference, one game ahead of Loyola. They are led by senior guard Jared Jordan who averages 17.8 points and 8.5 assists per game and is the favorite to win the Player of the Year Award.
Fairfield will look to continue its tough defense and hold back the third best scoring team in the league, who average 74.6 points per game. The Stags are statistically the best defensive team in the league.
Van Schaick will look to bounce back from two low scoring performances and continue his strong play, which has helped lead Fairfield over the past month. Freshman forward Anthony Johnson tied a career high against William and Mary on Saturday night with 16 points and his ability to score along with Van Schaick will be key to victory.
“I have got to play better and everyone as a group has to play better when we play Marist on Monday,” said Van Schaick.
“It’s big for our seniors, they always want to go out as winners,” said Head Coach Ed Cooley about the Marist game. “They want to finish up well heading into the tournament and we are doing everything we can to secure a bye. We will depend on our seniors to give us some leadership. Our kids have great swagger and we are looking forward to it.”
Cooley sent a strong message to the Fairfield students and community, urging them to come out and support the team on its Senior Night against Marist on Monday.
“I feel Michael, Danny [Oglesby] and Marty deserve the best possible crowd they can,” Cooley said. “These kids have done an unbelievable job considering the circumstances we walked into. The fact that we have been able to win some games down the stretch is a credit to their leadership and I hope the people here appreciate that and come out and support our kids.”
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