Stephanie Ryan ’08 scored a career-high 18 points to lead the women’s basketball team to a 70-61 victory over Yale at the John J. Lee Amphitheater in New Haven, Conn.
The win improved the Stags to 2-2 and puts them on a current two game winning streak.
Ryan came off the bench to lead the Stags over the winless Bulldogs. She scored 13 or her 18 points in the second half. She also added five rebounds and six steals. Head Coach Dianne Nolan was very pleased with Ryan’s performance.
“She let the game come to her,” Nolan said. “It was like it was a one man show out there. She was everywhere on the court and had a tremendous defensive presence.”
The Stags went on an 11-0 run in the first half to give them an early lead. Fairfield was up 35-24 at the end of the first half and continued to stay in control into the second half. The Stags kept a substantial lead throughout the second half to hold on for the road victory.
The women’s last two wins have been on the road against two Ivy League foes, Yale and Harvard. The Stags played Hartford Tuesday at the arena and host Niagara in their first conference game of the season. Nolan said she is happy with the Stags’ non-conference play so far.
“We’re excited to be .500 in non-conference play because we have a hard schedule and have played a couple games on the road. Whenever we get wins on the road, we’re going to be excited,” said Nolan.
Against Yale, the Stags took a lead with 12:24 in the first half and never looked back.
Fairfield received 41 of the 70 points from its bench. The game was a total team effort. Yale only received 22 points from its bench.
“We have a lot of players that can come off the bench and contribute. When one player doesn’t play up to potential we look for someone else to step up. We are trying to find the right combination of players to play against every team we play this year,” said Nolan.
It was total domination for the Stags with 18 second-chance points to Yale’s seven.
Candice Lindsay ’07 and Cara Murphy ’06 were the second leading scorers with eight points each.
Baendu Lowenthal ’09, who won MAAC Rookie of the Week last week, chipped in with six points and seven rebounds.
Yale’s desperation late in the game resulted in rapid fouling, and the Stags cashed in from the line, hitting nine of 12 free-throws in the final three minutes. Fairfield hit 24 of its 39 attempts while Yale was 16-20.
“We showed that we were more athletic than they were. We had a distinct defensive advantage over Yale, which kept their shooting percentage down and caused them to have trouble,” said Nolan.
Nolan said she expects Ryan’s effort to be just one of many from an assortment of players.
“We are looking for a different person to play great each night. We will see this happen all season.” said Nolan.
The Stags’ game Tuesday against Hartford was still in progress when The Mirror went to press.
Friday’s game is the season-opener in the MAAC, and will be followed by the men’s conference opener against Loyola.
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