Two major goals set by the women’s basketball team in preseason were to improve upon last year’s 13-17 record and to contend for the MAAC championship. Neither one was accomplished.
The Stags finished their season with a 12-17 record and were knocked out in the second round of the conference tournament by Niagara 76-65.
Head coach Dianne Nolan had high hopes for the squad coming into the season, as she looked to senior co-captain Schrene Isidora to guide the way to success.
“Schrene has all the pieces in place to have a successful season,” Nolan said during preseason.
Isidora, a 2001-2002 first-team-All-MAAC selection, led the team in it’s first three games averaging 16.3 points per game, but an early knee injury forced her to the sidelines for the remainder of the season.
Isidora medical red-shirted the remainder of the season and will return for a fifth year at Fairfield to play out her last year of eligibility.
There were only two seniors on this year’s team, Kelsie Dewalt and Isidora, and both of them were injured.
“It was hard to go an entire season without a senior player. The major thing we lacked this year was experience,” Isidora said.
If she was healthy and could have made contributions to the team, she feels as though the season’s outcome could have been different, but Nolan and the team did the best they could under the given circumstances that they were faced with.
The duo of Isidora and Boston College transfer Janelle McManus would make any collegiate coach salivate. The Stags will have to wait until next season to reap the rewards that the two will produce. Isidora has another year of eligibility after red shirting this season, and McManus will be a senior.
“I’m looking forward to playing with Janelle. I practiced a little with her and I really like her style of play,” Isidora said.
Injuries struck yet again as forward Katie Hammerer ’05 suffered a season ending knee injury in late December. With two starters down, Fairfield needed people to step it up a notch to fill the major roles Hammerer and Isidora would have handled.
Cathy Dash ’05 answered that request. She averaged 13.6 points per game and 7.4 rebounds. Dash was named, along with McManus to the All-MAAC third team.
McManus lit it up in a MAAC matchup against Loyola. She drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer to put the game into overtime. The Stags pulled out a victory 71-67. They ended the season with a MAAC record of 9-9.
Milica Milijkovic, Katherine Rusie, Yvette Rutherford, and Marybeth Chartier received All-Academic team honors. Freshman Ivana Podrog earned MAAC All Rookie Team honors as well.
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