The Fairfield University women’s basketball team will be the five seed in the 2002 HSBC Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament, held at the Pepsi Arena in Albany, NY.
Fairfield will face off against Canisius College, the four seed, at 9 p.m. on Friday, March 1. Canisius enters the contest with a 12-15 overall record and 9-9 mark in the MAAC. Fairfield has the same 12-15 overall record, but is 8-10, in the MAAC.
The Stags hold two wins over the Golden Griffs, winning the first meeting in Buffalo, on Jan. 20, 92-79. Fairfield won the return engagment on Feb. 18, 97-71, at the Arena at Harbor Yard.
Despite their two big wins over the Griffs, Head Coach Dianne Nolan said the team is starting fresh come tournament time. “We approach the tournament as a whole new season,” she said. “All bets are off. Our players feel very confident and feel good about the match-up.”
Nolan’s outlook for the tournament is optimistic on the whole. “We want to win it. We think the MAAC on the women’s side is really wide open. We were right there with all our opponents this season.”
Should the Stags be able to defeat the Golden Griffs, Fairfield will face the winner of the Siena-Rider/Iona quarterfinal winner, in the semis at 5 p.m., on Saturday, March 2. Rider and Iona will face each other in the play-in-game, on Thursday afternoon.
The Championship game is set for Sunday afternoon at 7 p.m., and will be broadcast live on the MSG network.
Nolan is also optimistic about next season for women’s basketball. “We’re excited a lot about the future,” she said. “Our minds drift to next year, but we want to focus on the tournament.”
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