FAIRFIELD, Conn. - The Fairfield University women's
basketball team ended their historic 2011-12 campaign with a tough 57-41
loss to Drexel University in the first round of the Women's National
Invitation Tournament (WNIT) this evening at Alumni Hall. Fairfield,
which hosted its first-ever WNIT game, finishes the season with a 24-9
overall record.
It was only fitting that senior Desiree Pina
led Fairfield in scoring in her final game as a Stag. The guard posted
11 points on 4-for-8 shooting, which including a 3-for-4 clip from
three-point range. She also grabbed four rebounds in 26 minutes of play.
A two-time All-MAAC Second Team selection, Pina averaged 11.0 points
per game this season while dishing out a career-best 113 assists. Pina
never missed a single game in her career and started 127 of the 128
games she played, the most in Fairfield history. She graduates 15th
all-time at Fairfield in points (1,343), eighth in free throws made
(313), and tenth in three-point field goals made (108) along with an
impressive career assist-turnover ratio of 1.33.
Senior Taryn Johnson
finished with four points and three rebounds in just 14 minutes of
play. A two-time All-MAAC First Selection, Johnson led the league in
field goal percentage (.545) and blocks (1.8/g) while scoring in double
figures in 25 of her 33 games played this year. She graduates 18th
all-time at Fairfield in points (1,185), sixth in rebounds (814) and in
blocks (186), eighth in steals (187) and second in games played (127).
It was also historic night for junior guard Katelyn Linney
who scored her 1,000th career point. She became the 26th Stag in
program history to complete the feat and the third one this season. Pina
and Johnson reached the milestone earlier in the year to mark the first
time in program history in which three Stags have reached 1,000 points
in the same season. Linney also hit a three-pointer bringing her career
total to 208 and will enter next season needing just two three-pointers
to break Holli Tapley's program record of 209.
Fairfield trailed Drexel, 10-9, when a lay-up by Christelle Akon-Akech
sparked
a 7-0 run by the Stags. The run was capped off at the 8:04 mark by
Linney who swished a jumper from the corner for her 1,000th career
point.
Drexel (19-13) came back to tie the score at 16-16 with 4:42 left to
play in the first half but the Stags pushed the lead to five on a
three-pointer by Pina and a pair of free throws by Laura Vetra
. The
Dragons' Kamile Nacickaite took over in the closing minutes of the
half, registering six points and three rebounds in a span of a minute to
tie the game at 21-21 at 1:32. With four seconds left, Hollie Merson
hit a jumper to send Drexel into the break with a 23-21 lead.
Drexel stormed out of the break on a 15-2 run over the first seven
minutes to overtake the Stags, 38-23 lead. Fairfield fought back cutting
the deficit to six points, 40-34, on back-to-back three-pointers by Alexys Vazquez
with 9:39 left to play. The Dragons were able to hold off the Stags the
rest of the stanza to advance to the second round of the WNIT.
Vazquez finished with eight points and three rebounds for the Stags while Linney finished with five points.
Sophomore Katie Cizynski
added six points and two blocks while Brittany MacFarlane
grabbed six rebounds.
Drexel shot 40 percent from the floor and went 11-for-11 from the free
throw line while Fairfield shot 32.6 percent from the field. The Dragons
held a 37-27 advantage in rebounds and forced 16 Fairfield turnovers,
10 of which came from steals.