During the women’s and men’s double header Saturday at the Arena at Harbor Yard, something special began to happen.
Janelle McManus, playing in her last regular season game as a Stag, dropped the red roses and framed jersey she received before the game, picked up a basketball, and began to terrorize Loyola en route to a 74-59 victory. The victory would eventually land the Stags fourth in the MAAC and earn them a first-round bye in the conference tournament, which begins Thursday in Buffalo, N.Y.
The crowd, at its season best of 3,924, watched the Fairfield women defeat the Greyhounds.
The senior tri-captain hit shot after shot, and surpassed both the 20 point mark in the game, and the 1,000 point mark in her Fairfield career (she had 282 as a freshman at Boston College) early in the second half.
With more than three minutes still left on the clock, McManus had 25, just a point shy of her career high, and Coach Dianne Nolan, wanting her star guard to go out on top in front of the home crowd, desperately tried to get her the ball.
“I was going crazy,” Nolan said. “I was tapping my head, yelling out pick and rolls, everything. [But] we figured it was just a prelude to the tournament.”
With one minute left and McManus stuck on 25, she left the game with a standing ovation from the crowd.
But the Stags had what they wanted: a chance – providing the second Siena loss in three days – to earn a bye that two months ago would have been nearly unfathomable. They also picked up some much needed momentum heading into the tournament after being routed by Iona the previous game.
“I’m really positive about the tournament,” Nolan said.
McManus, whose play has become even more critical with the absence of freshman Meka Werts (out of the lineup for personal reaons), expressed optimism about the team’s direction at the most critical point of the season.
“The past few weeks I feel like this team has been gelling,” she said.
A day later, the Stags’ hopes for a bye came true when they got an assist from Canisius, who handed Siena a loss and forced a three way tie for fourth between the Stags, Siena and Loyola.
Having swept the season series against both teams, the Stags won both tie-breakers and clinched the bye.
They may see Siena for the third time this year if the fifth-seeded Saints beat tenth seed Iona in Thursday’s play-in game.
The quest for their first NCAA tournament bid since 2001 and their first MAAC title since 1998, begins bright and early at 9:15 a.m. Friday morning.
“I really like our chances,” Nolan said. “A lot of MAAC teams don’t have the height we do and the guard play we do.”
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