Sabra Wrice ’08 graduated as one of the top scorers in women’s basketball history, while Meka Werts ’08 provided a spark off the bench for the Stags.
Now both players have brought their games overseas to play professionally.
Wrice has signed to play in England, while Werts will play in Finland. Wrice will join TEAM Northumbria, which finished third in the England Basketball Division One last season. Werts will play for Team Honsu, which finished seventh in Division I last season.
Both players are extremely quick two-guards who can finish in the lane or shoot from outside.
‘The European game is a little more open, guards and post players play the perimeter and pop threes,’ said Fairfield Head Coach Joe Frager. ‘So, yes, their quickness will really help them.’
The teams both players signed with are competitive professional teams.
‘If you think of it as a three-tiered system, they would be in the second tier,’ said Frager.
After last season, Frager knew a coach in England and gave both Wrice and the coach contact information. From there, the coaches in England liked what they saw from tapes.
‘We had several options, but I knew the player I wanted and was in no doubt that Wrice is that player,’ TEAM Northumbria coach Deirdre Hayes told the Evening Chronicle.
The team will also be paying for Wrice to earn her master’s degree.
Werts attended a tryout in Manchester, N.H. where she attracted the interest of some teams. Based on that workout, she landed a deal with a team in Finland.
For Fairfield, two players playing overseas could provide a boost for recruiting.
‘Obviously, it can’t hurt,’ said Frager. ‘Not that we are specifically focusing on international players, but we just want to branch out, which is what we are trying to do now. We’ll know soon since the signing period is coming up in November.’
Wrice averaged 16.2 points per game last season, while Werts averaged 6.5 off the bench.
While the two players have gone on to professional careers, they also leave a void in Fairfield’s backcourt. Wrice finished seventh in the program’s history having scored 1,577 points and Werts was seventh all-time in three point field goal made.
‘That’s going to be a big challenge [to replace them],’ said Frager. ‘Not only did we lose the leading scorer in Sab, but Meka was the spark off the bench. You can’t replace Sabra with one player, so the question is: Can the role players transition into primetime players?’
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Another Stag playing professionally overseas is Brett Maron ’08. Maron was one of the top goalkeepers in women’s soccer history and signed with a second-tier team in Iceland. She is back in the states currently, but according to Fairfield Head Coach Jim O’Brien, the top-tier team in Iceland has interest in bringing her up.
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