The Fairfield University
women's basketball team, playing its third game in five days, and in a game
that saw eight ties and 17 lead changes, upset visiting Atlantic Coast
Conference member Boston College, 59-54, at the Arena at Harbor Yard. With
the win the Stags improve to 7-3, while the loss drops the Eagles to 7-3.
Trailing by a point
(54-53), with 2:03 to play in the game Megan Caskin
curled off a screen at the top of the key and found Lauren
Groom on the baseline, where she knocked down a short jumper,
putting Fairfield
ahead 55-54. Stephanie Geehan knocked down
a pair of free throws with 1:01 to play and Baendu Lowenthal
hit a jumper in the paint with 26 seconds to play to put the Eagles away.
The Stags defense did not
allow a point in the final 3:56 of play, as the offense scored six straight
points to win the game. Fairfield forced
24 Boston College turnovers, with 12 steals, and
held the visitor to just 39 percent from the field and 1-9 from behind the arc.
Sabra Wrice shot 6-14 from the field in the second half, scoring
15 points and dishing out three assists to keep the Stags in the game.
Fairfield entered the game
shooting 55.8 percent from the free throw line, but hit 14-18 (77.8) ,
including 5-7 in the second half, to help earn the victory.
The teams had traded the
lead several times in the latter portion of the second half and Boston College
went ahead with 3:56 to play as Mickel Picco made the team's only three point
field goal of the game The Stags defense did not allow a point in the final
3:56 of play, as the offense scored six straight points to win the game. Fairfield forced 24 Boston College
turnovers in the game, with 12 steals, and held the visitor to just 39 percent
from the field and 1-9 from behind the arc.
Boston College led the Stags 26-25 at the
intermission and started the second half with a 9-2 run, taking the largest
lead of the game, 35-27, 2:26 into the half. Fairfield was able to answer that run with
seven straight points over the next 99 seconds, to get within a point, 35-34,
but the Eagles pulled away again. Boston College
ran off five unanswered point, helped by a pair of Stag turnovers, to take a
42-36 lead with 12:46 to play. From that point forward the momentum swung
to Fairfield.
Neither team could gain
space in the first half, partly because of turnovers, as Fairfield
committed 11 and forced 13 Boston
College miscues.
Fairfield would lead by three points early, 9-6 (14:53) and 11-8 (12:28), while
Boston College would take several four-point leads , the last 22-18 with 4:38
remaining in the half, and the Eagles led 26-25 at the
intermission.
Wrice finished the game as
the Stags scoring leader, dumping in 24 points, on 8-24 shooting from the
field. She added four assists and two steals in the contest. Lowenthal would
put up 20 points, shooting 7-13 from the field and 6-6 from the line, in the
contest. She also had a team-high seven rebounds, with five on the
offensive glass. Caskin did not score in the game, but equaled
Lowenthal's seven boards, four offensive, and recorded four steals and four
assists.
Geehan finished with three
points, all at the line, and six rebounds, while Groom added eight
points. Tara Flaherty was 2-2 from the field
for four points, along with a pair of offensive boards.