A lucky bounce and a desperate heave was all it took to end the women’s basketball team’s season in the MAAC tournament semifinals.
After 29 regular season games and nearly the entirety of their first playoff game, Fairfield’s season came down to a final shot in waning seconds.
The Stags entered the game as the No. 4 seed with a 15-14 overall record along with an 11-7 record in the MAAC. Siena, the underdog, was a five seed with a 9-19 record overall and an 8-10 conference mark. The Saints were also only 2-12 away from home.
Fairfield playing on the home court jumped out to an early advantage, leading by 10 as early as 6:23 into the game.
The Stags would manage to hold this margin until 8:48 left in the first half, leading 21-11. From then on Siena managed a 14-7 run to end the half and pull within three points.
Junior guard Sabra Wrice, who scored 19 points in only 13 minutes and stripped the ball three times, dominated the first half. Other than her, only three other Fairfield players managed to score. Yet, the Stags still held a narrow lead and Siena was 0-15 when trailing at the half.
Towards the end of the first half, Siena went to a 2-3 zone, which the Stags had trouble penetrating. The Saints continued to play their zone defense in the second half.
“We worked on our zone offense for the whole week,” said Head Coach Dianne Nolan. “I think some of our shooters got a little gun-shy when their first few shots didn’t go in.”
“They weren’t really looking for the shot. Against a zone you have to hit some from outside to try to open things up and that’s what we lacked on the offensive end,” she said.
Fairfield does most of their scoring in transition and the zone limited the Stags to only two fast-break points in the second half along with 15.8 percent from beyond the arc for the game.
Only six Stags scored in the game, led by Wrice, who finished with 29 points. Sophomore guard Banedu Lowenthal was able to score 15 points as the only other Fairfield player in double-digits. The rest of the team combined for a miniscule 11 points.
“I just came out shooting and we just work on that a lot in practice, coming to the ball and scoring, so we were just doing what we do in practice in a game situation,” said Wrice.
Fairfield out rebounded Siena 34-32 and had their lowest turnover rate of the year with only 10.
However, the Saints shot 50 percent from the floor in the final half.
Siena was able to shoot 25 foul shots compared to Fairfield’s 13 as well. Both Lowenthal and freshman Stephanie Geehan were in foul trouble and ultimately fouled out of the game.
“I’m probably not the person to ask,” said Nolan on the disparity of foul shots.
Siena had the final shot as well.
With Fairfield clinging to a two-point lead, 55-53, the ball was inbounded to Wrice with 38 seconds left.
Three Siena players promptly smothered Wrice with Heather Stec ’09 coming up with the ball with 33 seconds on the clock following a Saint’s timeout.
“I felt like I got fouled and pushed from behind, but that’s part of the game. We can’t look at one turnover and say that’s the reason we lost,” said Wrice. “Put the whole game together, it’s a sucky turnover to have at the end of the game, but it happens.”
“We basically told the team we were going to look for a steal and then the foul, so, we set up our press and we tried to steal,” said Siena Head Coach Gina Castelli. “If we didn’t get the steal we were just going to foul. We got a good steal off of it and got possession and that set up our last play.”
The Saints held for the final shot. After draining the shot clock,they tried to go inside to Laura Menty ’08.
“We were trying to go inside to Menty and obviously it’s a play that we run frequently and they were prepared for it, but we knew they were double and triple teaming and Menty did a really good job of finding Manzer,” said Castelli.
The Stags promptly swarmed her, causing her to lose control of the ball. However, she was able to push the ball out to Melissa Manzer ’08, a 29 percent shooter from beyond the arc.
Manzer, knowing the shot clock was winding down, hurriedly threw up her shot, which found the bottom of the net for a one point Siena lead with 2.5 seconds left.
“I don’t even know what happened,” Manzer said. “I just remember seeing Menty get stripped, then she dove on it on the ground, and she kind of [pushed it to me] and I shot it from over my knees.”
A desperate Meka Werts’ ’08 shot fell short, leaving the Stags with a 15-15 record, and a tournament exit after only one game.
Despite the hard-fought game, Nolan understood that even with the Stags’ struggles, they were one break away from advancing.
“It’s the bounce of the game,” said Nolan. “I thought we defended it well, a scrum, goes a little left, goes a little right, it’s a different ball game. But those are the breaks of the game, it came right out to their shooter, she had the presence of mind to put it up because that’s what shooters do. And she scored it, give them credit.”
Siena was able to limit the damage done by Wrice in the second half, limiting her to 10 points after her 19 in the first half. Lowenthal was also limited by her foul trouble and took only eight shots in the game, hitting six of them.
Normally, the Stags have enough depth where someone will step up every game, but the rest of the team combined to shoot only four of their 30 shots for only 13 percent.
Fairfield also had trouble containing Siena down the stretch. The Saints couldn’t miss from the charity stripe going six of six in the last six minutes of the game and 20 of 25 overall.
This disappointing loss caps off a season in which Fairfield was in contention for the No. 2 seed in the MAAC. They finished with the four seed and a first-round bye in the tournament.
Women’s Basketball Season Final Report Card:
Offense: Sabra Wrice ’08 and Baendu Lowenthal ’09 were the Stags’ two leading scorers, both in double-digits at 15.2 and 11.2 points per game respectively. Wrice proved that she was one of the best players in the MAAC and at times carried the Stags’ offense. However, behind those two, it was a smorgasbord of players, eight of whom averaged at least a point a game. Occasionally, you couldn’t even tell they were in the game. Megan Caskin ’09 improved her decision making throughout the year, averaging 3.1 assists per game. Grade:B-
Defense: Fairfield’s defense is a vital part of their game. The Stags like to force turnovers and push the ball in transition to lead to their offense. In the backcourt, Meka Werts ’08 and Wrice are two of the best in the MAAC along with Caskin another solid defender. The frontcourt of Lowenthal and Stephanie Geehan are also top defenders. Geehan had 41 blocks and 30 steals as a freshman. Grade: B+
Overall: The Stags finished at 15-15 overall along with an 11-7 MAAC record, the No. 4 seed and a first round bye. However, their season ended with a less-than-par performance in the semifinals of the tournament where they lost their opening game. Yet, they only lose one key contributor in Cara Murphy ’07 and return their entire starting lineup. Next year, the Stags should again be a contender, hopefully with a different result. Grade: B
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