The women’s basketball team reached a milestone over the weekend. However, it needed two tries to do it.
The program recorded its 500th win overall in its 33 years of existence. Fairfield is currently 500-394 after beating Rider, 73-57.
The Stags had a chance on Friday to notch the win, but fell short, losing to Manhattan, 74-61.
Despite the loss, the Stags remain in third place in the MAAC with a record of 8-4 and 12-11 overall.
Fairfield was up and down over the weekend, reaching a low against Manhattan, while rebounding with a solid game against Rider.
Manhattan shot 56.6 percent from the floor, including over 60 percent in the second half.
Head Coach Dianne Nolan was disappointed with the team’s performance on the defensive end.
“We pride ourselves on our defense and it just looked like we were out of sorts. We were doing things that we haven’t done in a long time,” she said. “We left our feet, didn’t stay on the ground, didn’t rotate, didn’t find people early enough. Just fundamentally not good.”
The Stags commit 19.1 turnovers per game on average, while forcing 18.5 by their opponents.
Fairfield has been averaging 1.2 more points per game than its opponents, despite their impressive winning record.
Even on the offensive side, it was a struggle. The Stags shot only 24 percent in the second half.
“I thought when we had some easy looks that would have kept us closer and maybe put us over the top, we missed,” said Nolan.
Despite struggling on Friday, the women rebounded in their game against Rider with a 73-57 win.
Nolan knew going into the game that the players would respond.
“The players did not feel good about Friday’s game. We knew it was not a good showing. They were very anxious to get back out on the court to play and win,” she said.
Unlike Friday, the Stags were tough on defense on Sunday, forcing 23 turnovers while coming up with 19 steals.
They limited Rider to 24 percent shooting in the first half and only 33 percent for the game.
“Our defense effort was much better. We made Rider shoot bad shots and got many steals. It was our point of emphasis and the players responded,” said Nolan.
Despite the vastly different games, the Stags tried to play their normal brand of basketball.
Wrice again had a stellar week, averaging 13.5 p.p.g. along with a game-high 18 against Manhattan, despite injuring her wrist in the game.
“It’s fine. I just hurt it real quick,” she said.
Wrice said that the difference in the games was a matter of hitting shots.
“We turn the ball over, but we hit our shots,” she said.
Nolan echoed that sentiment.
“We like to press but we can’t press unless we can put the ball in the basket. We were just really out of sorts,” she said.
Wrice also added three steals, giving her 42 steals for the season, fifth in the MAAC.
Right in front of her is fellow junior guard Meka Werts, who has a team-leading 43 steals, well enough for third in the conference. She had four in the game against Rider and averaged 8.0 points per game over the weekend.
Sophomore forward Baendu Lowenthal was another solid performer over the weekend, averaging 14.5 poiunts per game.
Not only did Lowenthal provide scoring for the Stags, she also was a force on the boards.
She had a double-double against Rider with 10 rebounds to go along with her game-high 17 points. Against Manhattan, she had 12 points and nine rebounds, falling one short of another double-double.
The Stags look to avenge their loss to Manhattan on Friday in Riverdale. A win would guarantee the Stags stay in third place in the MAAC.
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