On Sunday, Feb. 25 the Fairfield University Women’s Basketball team closed out their regular season with a 59-39 victory over Iona College to give the Class of 2018 their final win at Alumni Hall on Senior Day.
On a day meant to commemorate the seniors of the women’s basketball team for their hard work and dedication over the last four years, Fairfield’s seniors dominated Iona to capture their final home win of their careers.
Seniors Macey Hollenshead, Samantha Cooper and Kristen McLaughlin contributed greatly to the Stags’ 20-point victory over the Gaels. Hollenshead scored 12 points on the game, while recording a career-high seven steals. Cooper finished with eight rebounds, making her 980th career rebound, while McLaughlin also set career highs in rebounds, assists and steals.
The Stags got off to a slow start as Iona jumped out to an early six-point advantage, just five minutes into the game. Trailing 11-5, Fairfield slowly cut down the lead behind the play of Hollenshead, as she would snag three steals while scoring eight points in the opening quarter. Hollenshead‘s final three points of the quarter came off an assist from Kendra Landy ‘19 that cut Fairfield’s deficit down to just one at 17-16 with less than 30 seconds remaining in the quarter. Hollenshead would follow that three pointer by picking off a pass for a steal, and finding the open Sam Kramer ‘20 on a fast break to give the Stags the 18-17 edge at the conclusion of the first quarter.
The second quarter saw a defensive battle from both teams. Both Fairfield and Iona would combine to score just nine points in the quarter. Iona would score the first two points in the quarter to take a 19-18 lead. It took Fairfield almost the entirety of the quarter to get on the scoreboard when Kramer connected on a three pointer to tie the game at 22 heading into halftime.
Fairfield took over the game in the second half, as they started the third quarter with a 12-0 run. Kramer scored seven goals in Fairfield’s scoring run. Iona made one final run when they cut the deficit down to eight, but the Stags would strike back to increase the lead to 14 by the end of the third quarter, leading 44-30.
The fourth quarter would see more dominance from the Stags as they would hold their largest lead of the game at 23. Fairfield would close out the game with a 20 point advantage, capturing their 13th win of the season and 10th conference win with the 59-39 victory.
Kramer lead the Stags with a game high 23 points in 5-9 shooting from beyond the arc. Hollenshead also scored 12 points on the game while capturing seven steals. Cooper’s eight rebounds on the game gave her a career total of 985, making her just 15 shy of the 1,000 rebounds, which will make her the fifth Stag all time to record 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in her career.
With the win the Stags have clinched the No. 4 seed in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship this weekend. Fairfield is set to face No. 5 seeded Rider in the quarterfinals on Saturday, March 3 at 2:30 p.m.
Leave a Reply