The women’s basketball team opened its season with a hectic weekend that had the Stags traveling to North Carolina and back to play three games in four days.
On Friday, Fairfield beat UNC-Ashville, 69-49, in the opening game of the UNC-Asheville Tournament. On Saturday, the Stags fell 57-55 to Morgan State in the championship game. The loss was the first for the team under head coach Joe Frager during an in-season tournament.
Then, on Monday night, the Stags dropped their home opener to Villanova, 61-45.
A big question for the Stags this season would be how they would replace their leading scorer from a season ago, Sabra Wrice.
‘Keep in mind we are a work in progress,’ said Frager. ‘We won 22 games last year and had a positive season, but we are still as a program a work in progress. It does take time, not just the young kids, but the old kids, to get adjusted to not playing with (Sabra). She hit so many big shots for this team and she was like a security blanket. She’s not there now. But I think this team has a chance to be very good by the end of the year.’
Freshman Desiree Pina starts at Wrice’s old spot and is currently averaging 12.3 points per game. At times, Frager plays three freshmen on the court at once with Sarah Paulus and Taryn Johnson joining Pina on the floor.
‘We’re a young team, but they came through,’ said senior Baendu Lowenthal, the team’s leading scorer at 13.7 points per game.
Frager warned of expecting too much early in the season though.
‘With some of the combinations we have to go through with (senior) Lauren Groom currently being out, that’s one less perimeter threat,’ he said. ‘From our freshman players, we’re expecting some pretty exceptional things. They’re really trying and they did make some positives contributions.’
Groom is day-to-day with a jammed finger, joining Kelly Romano ’11 on the bench, who is out with a hip injury.
Frager tested his young team with a long road trip along with the three games in four days. He acknowledged that at the end of the Villanova game, he thought his team wore down physically and mentally.
‘I think we just lost energy,’ said senior Megan Caskin. ‘Yeah, it’s difficult, but I think it was a good learning experience for us.’
Now, the Stags will face cross-town rival Sacred Heart on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Arena at Harbor Yard.
‘Now, we try to get our legs back and prepare for a good Sacred Heart team,’ said Frager.
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