ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — In three seasons of championship-caliber play, Fairfield women’s basketball has developed an identity of staying ready and stepping up when called upon. That trademark was on display once again Sunday afternoon with a trip to the MAAC Championship on the line.
With Conference Player of the Year Kaety L’Amoreaux held scoreless and eventually ejected from the game in the fourth quarter after picking up her second flagrant foul, junior guard Jillian Huerter finished with a career-high 19 points to lead the Stags to a 65-48 win against Merrimack.
“[Stepping up is] how we’ve built this program,” head coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis said. “We talked about it going into this tournament, that identity wins out. So who can be the strongest team in their identity, and be true to each other, be fully bought into whatever that is? I love that this time of year, [that identity] rings true.”
In a first half that saw the duo of L’Amoreaux and junior road-runner Meghan Andersen go 0 for 10 from beyond the arc, Huerter connected on four of her first five triples to keep the Stags on pace.
She ended the game shooting 54% from the field and 63% from long range.
“I think all my threes were assisted, [my teammates] found me,” Huerter said. “I had my teammates moving to get me open, so that was a big part of [my success].”
Despite coming up empty from 3-point range and missing six of her first seven shots, Andersen remained persistent and turned her focus to the paint, finishing with 18 points and nine rebounds. That composure from the Stags’ second-leading scorer is a reflection of the growth and development she’s undergone over the last three years.
“I think a big part was just the coaches and the bench, and just all my teammates keeping my head in the game,” Andersen said of her success. “My coach [Erik Johnson] said it before, that an old me would have just gotten really mad at myself and probably shut down, but I think I’ve been learning to find new ways to impact the team as much as I can.”
Sophomore road runner Cyanne Coe added nine points and seven rebounds, as well as six steals and two blocks in a standout defensive performance against Merrimack All-MAAC First Teamer Madison Roman.
Entering the game averaging a double-double, Roman was held to just five points and five rebounds.
“[Roman] was a monster against Mount St. Mary’s, she had 18 boards,” Coe said. “The goal with her was just really boxing her out, keeping her off the boards. She’s a shooter, you have to play her honest. So I was just taking charge with that, being more physical than her.”
The Stags’ team defense carried them home in the fourth quarter, where they finished with 16 steals as part of 24 forced turnovers. The Warriors shot just 33% from the field for the game.
For L’Amoreaux, the struggles began early in the second quarter when a scuffle over an offensive rebound resulted in an extracurricular elbow to the body of Merrimack guard Paloma Garcia. Assessed as a flagrant one, the play put her in early foul trouble and forced her to the bench.
Later, with just over five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, L’Amoreaux got into another spat with Merrimack guard Se’Lah Reddick. Initially called a flagrant one against Reddick, replay review caused an additional second flagrant to be assessed to L’Amoreaux, ejecting her from the game.
“[The incident] was not deemed a fight on the court by the officials,” said MAAC Representative Charles O’Brien. “By rule, two flagrant one fouls, and the accumulation as such, does not carry an automatic suspension. Kaety L’Amoreaux will be eligible to play tomorrow.”
That ruling comes as a big break for the Stags, who will remain at full strength for a championship showdown against top-seed Quinnipiac. The Bobcats, who escaped Iona 63-62 in overtime in Sunday’s earlier semifinal, split the regular season series against the Stags and will be looking to avenge last year’s 76-53 loss in the tournament final.
“I think we’re just trying to focus on everything we’ve done in the past against [Quinnipiac], and also other games too, because there’s so much you can take from the game today,” Andersen said. “I think just taking advantage of the time that we have in the gym, and really staying focused and keying in on our coaches’ gameplan and all of our strengths we can use against them will help us.”
The Stags will look to take their final step in claiming a three-peat and another trip to the NCAA Tournament on Monday night. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.
